CAIRO — Egyptians began voting Saturday in the first stage of parliamentary elections, a vote that is highly likely to produce a toothless lower chamber packed with supporters of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.
The elections are taking place as the Arab world’s most populous country faces a slight increase in coronavirus cases, with authorities warning that a second wave of the pandemic lies ahead.
Like the Senate elections in August, Egyptian election authorities said face masks would be handed out to voters for free and polling stations were disinfected.
Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly urged Egyptians to take part in the vote that he described as having a “democratic atmosphere,” as he cast his own ballot early in the morning in a Giza suburb.
Since coming to power in 2014, el-Sissi has presided over a rolling crackdown on dissent that has discouraged public criticism of the government. Security forces detained thousands following small, sporadic street protests against corruption last year.
Most Egyptian media are supportive of el-Sissi and regularly berate critics as traitors or supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, a banned Islamist group that is officially designated as a terrorist organization.
“The previous parliament allowed the government to do what it wanted,” said voter Amr Abdel-Wahed while waiting to cast his ballot at a polling centre neat the Cairo University. He added that people were “tired” of a parliament that followed the government’s line so closely.
Egyptian officials push for people to turn out in high numbers for elections. Election authorities have reiterated previous warnings that those who boycott the vote could be fined up to 500 Egyptian pounds ($32). Some 63 million voters are eligible to vote in the two-stage election, with results announced in early December.
Only 14.23% of voters participated in the Senate elections in August. The government restored the upper chamber to the country’s constitution following a referendum last year that sought to extend the presidency’s powers and term limits.
A total of 568 seats in the lower chamber are up for grabs in this month’s polls, with over 4,000 candidates running as individuals competing for 50% of the seats. Prominent, wealthy government-affiliated power brokers have an advantage.
The other 50% of seats in the House of Representatives are reserved for over 1,100 candidates running on four party lists. El-Sissi will name 28 seats, or 5%, bringing the total number of seats in the lower chamber to 596.
The first stage of voting was taking place Saturday and Sunday in 14 of Egypt’s 27 provinces, including Giza and the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria. Egyptian expatriates abroad voted earlier this week.
Voting in the country’s 13 other provinces, including the capital Cairo and the two provinces in Sinai Peninsula, will take place on Nov. 7-8. Each stage of the vote will be followed by runoff elections.
Final results will be announced in December and the new chamber will hold its inaugural session shortly afterward.
In the run up to the election, Cairo and towns across the country have been awash with banners advertising candidates, mostly pro-government businessmen and politicians. In Giza, for example, the main front-runners are staunchly pro-government candidates including businessman Mohammed Abu el-Enein.
In recent years, authorities have ratcheted up their crackdown on dissent, targeting not only Islamist political opponents but also secular pro-democracy activists, journalists and online critics. The tactic has left the president and his supporters with no formal political opposition.
Last year, police arrested eight people, including former lawmaker and human rights lawyer Zyad el-Elaimy, after they met with political parties and opposition lawmakers to hash out how to run in the 2020 parliamentary elections. The arrested were accused of spreading fake news and conspiring with an outlawed group to commit crimes, a reference to the Muslim Brotherhood.
El-Sissi’s government has also pushed through sweeping reforms and austerity measures to overhaul the country’s battered economy. The reforms, which included floating the currency and slashing key subsidies, won the Egyptian government praise from its key allies abroad and international financial institutions. But the economic overhaul dramatically hiked prices for everything from electricity to drinking water, squeezing the poor and middle class.
Critics say the 596-seat legislature will be like the previous one, which was little more than a rubber stamp for el-Sissi’s policies, leaving the general-turned president with almost unchecked power.
The pro-government Mustaqbal Watan, or “Nation’s Future,” party has the largest number of individual candidates, with 284 individual candidates in the two stages.
Samy Magdy, The Associated Press
