Polls close in Egypt's presidential elections, vote counting begins

Thursday 29-05-2014 03:01 PM
Polls close in Egypt's presidential elections, vote counting begins

Police and a local guard affiliated to them conduct duties outside a polling station during the presidential election in Talya, the home town of the mother of presidential candidate Former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi within Minoufiya governorate, 40 km northwest of Cairo, May 27, 2014. REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih

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CAIRO, May 28 (Aswat Masriya) Egyptians finished their voting on Wednesday in the three-day presidential election as polling stations closed at 9.00 p.m. (1800 GMT) and began counting the votes, Aswat Masriya reporters said. 

State television showed footage of judges closing the ballot boxes and stamping it with red wax. 

Egypt extended the originally two-day election late on Tuesday, hours after announcing that a 500-pound fine will be applied on non-voters in accordance with the law. 

The two candidates competing in the presidential race, former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahi, have criticized the extension of the vote and their campaigns filed complaints against the decision. 

There was a low turnout for voters in most polling stations on Wednesday, but the number of voters increased slightly in the last two hours, according to the International Commission and Maat Organisation, who observed the elections. 

A source from the Presidential Elections Commission told Aswat Masriya on Wednesday that 20 million Egyptians have voted until now.

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