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Roundup: Egypt concludes 1st parliamentary polls under Sisi, low turnout expected

Xinhua, November 24, 2015 Adjust font size:

Egypt concluded on Monday evening the second phase of its long-awaited and first parliamentary elections under President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi with an expectedly low turnout.

The second phase of the polls, held on Nov. 22 and 23, has taken place in 13 provinces, including the capital Cairo, out of the country's total 27 provinces.

The turnout does not seem to be much greater than that of the first stage of the elections that was held on Oct. 18 and 19 in the other 14 provinces including Giza and Alexandria, whose turnout stood at 26.56 percent.

The most populous Arab state has been without a parliament for about three years, as the last one elected in late 2011, months after the ouster of long-time leader Hosni Mubarak, was dissolved in June 2012 by a court order.

The High Election Committee has previously said that the complaints it received do not affect the electoral process in general, which is monitored by a variety of observers including dozens of foreign embassies and local civil society organizations, besides the media.

"Vote brokers" packing voters to polling stations and buying their votes at an agreed-upon price is a phenomenon that has been spotted by some local media outlets in the country. Similar violations have been criticized on social media websites like Facebook and Twitter.

The parliamentary elections nationwide is secured by 160,000 military men and 180,000 policemen supported by monitoring air forces.

Meanwhile, in North Sinai province, the center of self-proclaimed "Islamist" militants, a policeman was killed and two recruits injured on Monday as an improvised explosive device targeted a police patrol vehicle in Sheikh Zuweid city, according to state-run Al-Ahram news website.

But the first day of the two-day polls in North Sinai, bordering Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip, passed without any major incidents.

The new parliament will consist of 596 seats, 448 of which will be for individuals, 120 for winners from party-based lists and the remaining 28 will be appointed by the president.

Over 55 million Egyptians out of the country's 94-million population have been eligible to vote in the two stages of the polls.

The turnout of the ongoing polls is considered too low - almost half - when compared to the 54 percent of the 2012 elections, which elected a parliament dominated by the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood group and other Islamists.

President Sisi is currently holding the legislative authority until a new parliament is elected as the third and final phase of the country's future roadmap including a new constitution and presidential elections.

The inaugural session of the parliament, or the House of Representatives as renamed in the new constitution, is expected to be held in December.

Electing a new parliament represents the third and final step of the future roadmap, including a new constitution and presidential elections, that was declared by Sisi as then-military chief on the ouster of former Brotherhood-oriented President Mohamed Morsi in early July 2013. Endit