Egypt Elections: High voter turnout, active female participation on first day
Egypt's 2024 presidential elections began on a high note early on Sunday, marked by a surge in voter turnout with queues forming outside polling stations throughout the country.
The Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies (ECSS) notes these observations, reporting significant participation at most visited polling stations, across the country. The on-site observation team from ECSS noted active engagement from both female and youth voters, local news outlet Ahram Online reports.
Nearly 67 million eligible voters are invited to participate, with electoral committees welcoming them from 9 am to 9 pm on December 10, 11, and 12, 2023.
The Executive Director of the National Elections Authority (NEA), Ahmed Bendari at a press conference on Sunday morning, reassured the public that the voting process was seamless across all polling stations and subcommittees.
Although a brief delay occurred at a committee in Giza, Bendari affirmed that operations swiftly resumed. He further reported on the impressive participation of women in the process.
According to the ECSS report, the majority of electoral committees adhered to their scheduled opening times, with only a few experiencing delayed starts.
The National Elections Authority highlighted the extensive network of 11,631 sub-committees operating across 9,376 polling stations, all supervised by 15,000 judges nationwide, facilitating the democratic exercise for eligible voters.
Meanwhile, some notable personalities including the incumbent President, Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, presidential candidates Hazem Omar from the People's Republican Party, Farid Zahran from the leftist opposition Social Democratic Party and Abdel-Sanad Yamama from the Wafd Party have all cast their votes in their respective districts.
