Preliminary counts of votes cast by Egyptians based in Saudi Arabia indicate that the majority are for the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) list, Saudi news website Sabq reported Monday.
Polls at Egyptian embassies around the world ended at midnight on Sunday after being extended for one day due to a high turnout. Voters sent their ballot papers by email or handed them in at embassies.
Egypt's state-run news agency MENA reported that by 6 pm on Sunday the number of voters at Egyptian embassies had reached 120,000. Voters in Saudi Arabia are estimated to be a quarter of the total number.
Sabq quoted anonymous sources as saying that preliminary results indicate that FJP’s list will win more than 75 percent of votes. Vote sorting is still ongoing and is expected to end by Monday night.
The sources told Sabq that the results for the single-winner ballot is still vague due to the large numbers of candidates.
The sorting process at the Egyptian Embassy in Riyadh started on Monday at 1 am.
Egyptians in Saudi Arabia are considered the biggest expatriate voting power, according to estimates by the High Elections Commission, as their number exceeds 1.2 million Egyptians.
Egypt's Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday that embassies will submit results to the ministry once the sorting process is over, and the ministry will send them on to the High Elections Commission.
