First Phase of Egypt Parliamentary Elections Completed, Vote Count Starts

The first phase of the parliamentary elections across 14 of Egypt’s 27 governorates finished Monday.

CAIRO (Sputnik) — The two-day first phase of the parliamentary elections across 14 of Egypt’s 27 governorates finished Monday and the counting of the vote already started, a spokesman of the High Election Committee said.

Over 27 million residents had the chance to cast their ballots for the first time in three years. The second phase of the vote for 596 lawmakers is scheduled for November 22-23.

"[The voter turnout numbers] are neither high nor low. We will obtain accurate data after the polls are closed, when the first information on the results is coming," Secretary Treasurer of Judges Club Mohamed Abdo Saleh said.

Final results are expected by early December, but Egypt plans to publish the first phase tally later in the day.

Egypt’s January 2014 constitution – adopted under a transitional roadmap following the ouster of Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Mohamed Morsi a year earlier – envisions these elections as the last phase of the country’s transitional period.