The National Elections Commission on Friday has concluded the period for Egyptian expatriates to register on the commission’s website to vote in the senate elections on August 9 and 10.
The commission has received thousands of data registration requests from voters to print their election card using their registration code, which will be sent with votes attached to the commission.
Any expatriates who failed to register their data on the website or did not receive their voting password will not be allowed to vote.
No complaints have been received thus far by the NEC’s commissions set to monitor election campaign violation’s or the sizes of candidate expenditures.
The commission will list the the names of electors who registered their data on the website, in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The electoral propaganda period will end at 12 pm on August 8, the commission said.
It added that it will finish the distribution of electors on the electoral committees soon, allowing the voters to inquire about the electoral center, the polling committee and the voter number using their national identification number.
Immigration and Egyptian Expatriates Affairs Minister Nabila Makram in July 22 the steps that expatriates can take to participate in the upcoming senate elections by voting through a courier method.
Expatriates can vote by first registering their data at the official website of the National Elections Commission, which had been active from Saturday July 25 to Friday July 31.
As soon as registration takes place, a confidential code number will appear for use in voting on August 9 or 10, which should not be shared with anyone else.
Once entered, the code will grant access to the lists of candidates which voters can then print to make their selection, which is then placed into a sealed envelope. A declaration will then appear on the website stating the voter’s participation in the electoral process.
This message must be printed out and signed by the voter and attached with a national ID card or passport with a copy of their residence permit. Dual national voters must attach a copy of their foreign passport.
These documents are then to be placed into another sealed envelope.
Makram explained that once the envelopes are ready, they can then be sent via express mail to the Egyptian diplomatic mission of the country they live in.
The envelopes are scheduled to arrive at the headquarters of the diplomatic mission by the end of August 12.
Elections for Egyptians abroad will begin on August 9-10 while elections in Egypt will take place August from 11-12. The results will be announced on August 19.
Run-off elections will begin on September 6-7 for Egyptians abroad and on September 8-9 within Egypt, with the final results to be announced on September 16.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi late June ratified a law establishing a new senate, which will function as an upper house of the parliament.
The law was published in the official Egyptian gazette on Thursday and took into effect on Friday.
It replaces the Senate Council with the Shura Council, which was the previous name of the chamber during former President Hosni Mubarak’s era — the last time the chamber was in use.
The bill to establish the Shura Council, which was abolished after Mubarak was overthrown in 2011, was submitted by Abdel-Hadi al-Qasabi, the head of the Support Egypt Coalition.
The senate will consist of 300 members, 100 of whom are elected by a closed list system, 100 elected by an individual system, and 100 appointed by the president.
The term of membership in the senate will be five years, starting from the date of its first meeting.
