Egyptians in Uganda participate in presidential elections

VOTE | EGYPT

By Ahmed Tanikhy

The Egyptian embassy in Uganda opened its doors on Friday, March 16 for the Egyptian community to participate in the first phase of the Presidential elections, which lasted three days.

Egypt's ambassador to Uganda, Tarek Sallam, said: "The embassy has completed its preparations for the Egyptians living and present in Uganda to vote. The electoral Commission has began receiving the voters at exactly 9:00am Kampala local time and will continue until 9:00pm."

The ambassador said every Egyptian resident in Uganda has the right to cast his or her vote, after the submission of the necessary valid personal Egyptian identifications, which are required by the general electoral commission.

The embassy had completed its final preparations on Thursday evening to receive the voters the next day, finishing all the logistics necessary to conduct the voting process. The voting process is supervised by his excellency the ambassador, who is present to ensure the completion of the electoral process in ease.

Polls close for expats

Meanwhile, voting for expatriates in the Egyptian presidential elections concluded in embassies and consulates around the world on Sunday, March 18, one week before polls are set to open domestically.

Voting in Los Angeles and Canada will close today on Monday due to the time zone difference.

President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and Moussa Mostafa Moussa, the head of Ghad Party, are the two candidates on the ballot in the 2018 presidential elections.

Voting abroad took place in 124 countries from March 16 to 18, with Egyptians at home due to vote from March 26 to 28.

Polling facilities in most countries opened for voting at 9:00am local time on Sunday and closed at 9:00pm.

Since the start of the vote on Friday, several videos have been shared online from embassies worldwide showing Egyptian men and women celebrating while voting. They were playing patriotic songs and wearing clothes in the colours of the Egyptian flag; red, white and black.

According to the Egyptian law, all Egyptians abroad can vote in the 2018 elections, regardless of their visa status, whether residents, non-residents or tourists.

Around 9.5 million Egyptians out of a population of 104 million are living abroad.

All Egyptian expats can vote in the March presidential elections regardless of legal status in host countries.

The total number of eligible voters in the national voter database is 59 million, according to NEA statistics.

In Egypt's 2014 presidential poll, which El-Sisi won, around 318,000 Egyptian expatriates cast their votes.

The writer is the head of press office at the Egyptian Embassy in Kampala