Egyptian expat voting ends in presidential election

By Gulsen Topcu

CAIRO (AA) – The three-day period for Egyptians living overseas to cast their votes ended on Sunday.

The expatriate voting period lasted for three days -- starting from Friday -- from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. local times of each country.

The vote counting process of the closed ballot boxes has started.

According to Egypt’s official electoral commission, 139 polling stations were set up at Egyptian diplomatic missions in 124 countries.

The commission did not provide the number of Egyptian registered voters living abroad.

The presidential vote will be conducted in Egypt from March 26 to 28.

Incumbent President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Musa Mustafa Musa, the latter of whom heads up the liberal Al-Ghad Party, are the only two contenders in the presidential contest.

In the run-up to the polls, would-be challengers to al-Sisi were effectively sidelined. These included Sami Anan, a well-known former army chief, and Ahmed Shafik, the last prime minister of Egypt's Mubarak era.

A former defense minister, Al-Sisi spearheaded a 2013 military coup that unseated Mohamed Morsi, Egypt's first democratically elected president and a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood group.