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Abdel Fattah al-Sisi

CAIRO. — Egyptians are expected to cast their ballots across the country today and tomorrow, fulfilling the next steps in the political roadmap announced by then-Defence Minister Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi on Morsi’s removal.Al-Sisi and leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahi are the only two contenders in the presidential race. Al-Sisi is expected to win by a landslide.

Egyptian expatriates cast their ballots from May 15 to19. Out of 318 033 votes, Al-Sisi won 296 628 (94,5 percent), while Sabahi got 17 207 (5,5 percent). Invalid votes totalled 4 198.

In his last speech before the presidential election, interim president Adly Mansour has called on Egyptians “to express their free will” in choosing a candidate that will help build the  state.

“Every Egyptian youth, father and mother is invited to cast their votes in the poll which will shape the nation’s future on the basis of democracy, justice and equality,” said Mansour.

He urged voters to “show the world that Egypt did not witness merely a temporary revolution against an oppressive failing regime, but rather a mature revolution”.

Mansour added: “We are all keen on securing popular participation that deepens the meaning of democracy.”

Mansour also thanked Egyptians living abroad, who voted between May 15 and 19, for what he described as an unprecedented turnout.
Meanwhile, preparations to unfreeze Egypt’s membership of the African Union will begin after the presidential election, the head of the union’s election observer mission has said.

“The AU’s mission has sensed responsiveness and facilities provided by Egyptian authorities for it to operate,” said Mohamed Lemine Ould Guig, the former prime minister of Mauritania, in a press statement.

Guig’s comments came after he was received by Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy.

He added that initial remarks on the presidential poll would be announced at a press conference in Cairo on May 28.

“The results we’re hoping for is for the Egyptian people to elect a president and exit this transitional phase” and for “Egypt (to) regain its status in the African Union”.

The AU’s mission arrived in Egypt last week upon an invitation from the interim authorities.

Egypt was suspended from the AU after the ouster of Mohamed Morsi, the first democratically elected president of the country, until it could restore “constitutional order.”

It is the AU’s policy to suspend any member state if it undergoes an “unconstitutional” change of government. — Ahram Online.