Nearly 95 percent of the more than 300,000 Egyptians living abroad who voted this week have expressed overwhelming support for presidential candidate Gen. Abdel Fattah Al Sisi.
Over the past few days, several embassies and diplomatic missions have begun publishing the results of overseas voting, which took place over the weekend, ahead of the domestic polls that open on Thursday.
In Qatar, which has had an increasingly strained relationship with Egypt under Al Sisi’s leadership so far, expats also supported the general. He received 19,165 votes, while his contender Hamdeen Sabahi collected only 1,674 votes.
The results, published on Monday at midnight by the Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt in Qatar, state that 21,237 Egyptian citizens residing in Doha cast their votes in the presidential poll. Out of this number, 20,839 votes were counted as valid, leaving 398 invalid votes.
On the third day of the elections, Doha News spoke to several voters, the majority of whom said that they supported Al Sisi.
The general also won by sweeping margins in the US, UK, Italy and Germany, among other countries.
Speaking about results, Essam Farag, spokesman of Sabahi’s campaign in Qatar, told Doha News:
“The high voter turnout is due to Egyptians being falsely persuaded and misguided by the media which has affected their minds about what’s happening.”
He added that expat Egyptians are exposed to a “different” kind of media than the one in Egypt, which explains the outcome of the polls.
Al Sisi, who was a former Minister of Defense and head of the Egyptian Army General, has gained nationwide momentum in the months after ousting President Mohamed Morsi amid mass protests on June 30 of last year.
Since then, he has garnered the support of many Egyptian institutions that took part in the protests against the Muslim Brotherhood-backed Morsi’s one-year rule.
His contender, Sabahi, leader of the Egyptian Popular Current who ran in the 2012 presidential elections and came in third, was jailed several times for his opposing politics under former successive presidents, Anwar Al Sadat and Hosni Mubarak.
Results abroad
As of Monday night, the number of Egyptian expats who voted has reached 315,000 voters. That’s a slight increase in the 314,329 expat voters who cast their ballots in the presidential elections in 2012, Egypt’s Presidential Elections Committee (PEC) said in a statement on its website.
The results have so far indicated that Al Sisi has lead the the expat vote in all 124 countries.
In a news statement published in Arabic on his official website, unofficial indicators revealed that Al Sisi has gained an “overwhelming” number of votes in the Gulf countries, especially in Saudi Arabia, where many Egyptians reside.
Here’s a breakdown of the votes Al Sisi recieved from Egyptian expats in the Gulf, as published on his official Facebook page:
- Saudi Arabia: 70,267 out of 76,609 (Jeddah: 34,304 out of 37,090 and Riyadh: 35,963 out of 39,519);
- Kuwait: 62,527 out of 65,330;
- UAE: 49,194 out of 52,256;
- Qatar: 19,165 out of 21,237;
- Bahrain: 5,305 out of 6,025; and
- Oman: 4,859 out of 5,299
Farag said that Sabahi’s campaign would not officially comment or speak about the results.
He however thanked Qatar’s Ministry of Interior for their efforts in
helping voters reach the embassy by managing the roads and leading them inside.
Voting began at 141 embassies and consulates on May 15, and concluded on May 18 after it was extended in several countries, including Qatar, due to a high voter turnout.
In the meantime, the presidential vote is scheduled to start on May 26 and 27 in Egypt. The vote is the second following the January referendum on an amended constitution.
Thoughts?
How is this relevant to Qatar ?
300,000 Egyptians living abroad? That can’t be true! Even voting Egyptians living abroad must be way larger. Fact check please.
Arabs in general and specially Egyptians needs a strong arm to rule them, not democracy. You can’t give democracy to folks who are undemoractic.
This is the same logic of dictators. They actually get away with whatever they want mostly because of people like you saying such things. If you are an Arab and think that you do not deserve freedom, fair enough. But don’t claim that most Arabs do not deserve it 🙂
I only see the younger generation yearning for democratic changes while the older generation are comfortable with the existing Mubarak Era politics….maybe in about 10 years time democracy would kick in….
Yes true. Unemployment is also higher amongst the youth, as adults have already jobs and families even though they might not very satisfied with their life. At the end of the day, democracy is a long-term process to be implemented slowly. It is not a product you would buy and start using the same day.
I didn’t say we Arabs don’t deserve democracy I said we are undemocratic in nature and a democratic system would never work … Look at the more democratic countries in the Arab world.. Lebanon.. Kuwait.. Bahrain… Look at Iraq… Egypt overthrew a leader who was elected in the most democratic and transparent election in the Arab world only to instal a military man… We’re democratic as long as we are part of the majority … But how quickly do we turn mid evil when minorities ask for their rights or when we become part of a minority
My understanding is that we got 2 generations the baby boomer and the millennials (leaving out generation X, offcourse no disrespect) who are wide apart interms of education, social and purchasing factors are concerned, basically millennials are the first generation to come into terms with each other globally through technology, I say they can trust their millennials colleagues rather than their own parents.
But as per your case, I would not say Arabs are not democratic in nature, in fact it was an Arab, Prophet Muhammed (s.a.) who first introduced democratic traits to the world. In Madinah, the Prophet was the head of the state while Jewish and Pagan companions where living together in tolerance with each other, there was also an agreement with each community to protect Medinah from outside invaders irrespective of what their beliefs are, offcourse they did not get well with each which is all together a different issue, but the Prophet always preached tolerance within all communities by keeping ‘State’ separate from ‘Religion’ which is evident from the Quranic Verse which states that ‘there is no compulsion in Religion’, he even allowed the Christians of His time to pray inside the first mosque, I would rarely see such a scene right now, but unfortunately somewhere in time these traits disappeared from the middle east and west inherited them. I say it was the Spanish Muslim Philosopher Ibn Rush (the west calls them averroes) who laid the foundation for European Rennaissance in the 16th century, the West picked up and unfortunately the Arabs civilization stagnated. I could say that with the start of the Arab springs maybe we could be seeing a transition from the current dark ages towards enlightenment.
Er, I think the Greeks were way ahead of Mohd in democracy a 1000 years before him. In fact the word democracy comes from ancient Greek.
I am not speaking of the word ‘democracy’ rather its Traits….if they really were democratic enough they would not have put Socrates to death in the first place….
You are aware I hope that democracy and capital punishment are two different things? The US is considered a democractic state but also have the death penalty in some states.
The question of how justice is implemented can make or fail society. If a person commits a crime or steal, he creates disorder, society puts him/her to death to restore balance and peace. In Socrates case, his only crime was for his attempt to improve Athenian’s sense of justice.
You lost me at Arabs introduced democracy
That’s right I’m up voting myself
Protection of minorities and implementation of justice irrespective to caste, creed, race or sect was first implemented by Prophet Muhammed…..dispensing equal rights to a black slave was unparallel in those times, how do you expect the Arabs to rise from the savage culture of the ignorant days to enlightened times of Baghdad, Spain & the ottoman state, in my opinion it is the working traits of democracy in the long run…..
Haha, do you know what you are writing….. equal rights to a black slave….. that’s one of the best, ‘I’ve destroyed by own argument’ I have ever read on here.
As for Prophet Mohd, the people of Arabia and even the Ottoman Empire they invaded and conquered many lands and imposed taxes on non-muslims. Hardly equal treatment or even the a flourishing of democracy.
(Even Athens were they had a democractic state, was not a true democracy as only citizens could vote, slaves could not….)
Well for your information taxes where also implemented across the greater Muslim population as well….what do you think Zakat is ?!
When I speak of equality, I am pointing out to opportunities for an individual to evolve in society, can one provide opportunities to a person who does not put any effort or is hedonistic?
Exactly…!!!…Majority of Arabs Believe in Human Hierarchy and are mostly Racist…They believe that Almighty has given them such powers which they can exercise on others…You can’t give them Democracy…
Surely it can’t be democratic to publish results of expat/out of country voting ahead of the main polls opening up on Thursday? Whilst the percentage of voters may be small, the results may influence and affect the voting intention of the main vote. Why not keep the results secret and announce as part of the main vote ???
Looks like some of this countries are making a mockery of this thing called democracy and using the voting process to further their own ends and some of this leaders even end up giving themselves 99.97 % of the votes
Of course Pharaoh Sisi will be ‘elected’, when you are voting at the barrell of a gun it is very persuasive who you put your X next to.
As far as I know, there is somewhere between 150.000 and 200.000 Egyptians living in Qatar. That only 19.000 voted is very telling. I stopped believing that Egyptians were worthy of freedom and democracy when some of my Egyptian colleagues who were pro-Morsy changed overnight after the coup and started praising the military’s power and criticizing Morsy’s lack of leadership. If you are willing to abandon your values and principles and support the killing of peaceful protestors in order to keep your privileges then you do not deserve my respect.