Oct 22, 2015 Having gone three years without a parliament, Egyptians recently headed to the poll to vote in a new parliament.
While addressing the nation, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said:
“I, and in a direct form, call on all Egyptians to go to polling stations, and to strongly assemble to achieve our last demand that we’ve agreed on. I call on all of you, men and women, young and elderly, farmers and workers, from across the country, assemble for the sake of the country and celebrate choosing your representatives, and choose well.”
In preparation for the exercise, security forces were deployed to the various polling locations around the country to ensure a peaceful and smooth election.
Speaking to reporters, Nayra Botros, one of the voters said:
“After what we’ve been through, we have to all come down here and unite. Even if we disagree, we can’t disagree over Egypt,”
Another voter expressed optimism over the changes the elections could bring.
“Sometimes, regarding the disappointment of the youth that say, ‘we’re not benefiting very much, what can we do? We have inherited this from the previous elections, the last elections. The people have not gained anything good out of it,’ and that is why the youth today might be feeling disappointed – they’re saying ‘if there’s goodness in our country, we would have seen it a long time ago,’ but God willing, there will be lots of good.”
The voting process was not only restricted to Egyptians at home, as polling activities also took place in Dubai, Jordan and Lebanon.
Speaking during the election, Mohammed Badreddine Zayed, Egypt’s Ambassador to Lebanon said:
“We stayed for more than two years without a parliament because of the wait for the amendments that happened to the law of the parliament election. Actually, this was the initial plan from the beginning: the constitution first, the president second and the parliament in third place. This is surely a major step and its completion today achieves the completion of the Egyptian state institutions.”