Egyptians headed to the polls Monday morning to begin a weeks-long parliamentary election process, widely seen by critics as a move to further entrench President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s hold on power, AFP reported.
Polling stations opened at 9:00 a.m. local time to fill 568 of the 596 seats in the lower house. The remaining 28 seats will be appointed directly by Sisi.
Voting abroad took place Friday and Saturday. In Alexandria, ballots may be cast until Tuesday, while Cairo and other regions will vote starting November 24. Final results are expected by December 25.
Half of the seats will be filled via closed party lists and half by individual candidates, with a quarter reserved for women.
The vote follows senate elections held two months ago, which saw just 17% turnout. The pro-government “National List for Egypt” coalition swept that vote, running unopposed in the party list race and is expected to dominate again.
Leading the 12-member coalition are the pro-Sisi Mostaqbal Watan (Nation’s Future) party and the National Front party, headed by former minister Essam al-Gazzar.
Opposition parties remain fragmented, with some running independently and others joining pro-government lists.
Analysts say the timing of the vote is critical, as it will be the last before Sisi’s third and final term ends in 2030. They estimated that Sisi is seeking full control of parliament in order to pass constitutional changes allowing him to remain in power beyond 2030.
Sisi, a former defense minister, led the 2013 military overthrow of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi, who was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood.
He was first elected in 2014 and reelected in 2018 for a second four-year term. Constitutional amendments, passed in a referendum in 2019, added two years to his second term, and allowed him to run for a third, six-year term. He won a third term in elections that were held in December of 2023.