Egypt's National Elections Authority (NEA) said on Saturday that the second day of voting for Egyptian expats in the 2018 presidential elections was “good” and “satisfactory.” Egypt's NEA spokesman Mahmoud El-Sherif said in a press conference in Cairo that the voting process was “no different” than it was on the first day, which marked the first day of elections for Egyptians abroad. Voting for Egyptian expats is set to last until Sunday 18 March. According to El-Sherif, Egyptians abroad continued to cast their ballots at 116 polling stations in Egyptian embassies and consulates out of 139 polling stations in 124 countries worldwide. El-Sherif said that some polling stations have not opened for voting due to time zone differences, adding that the last polling station set to close will be in Los Angeles at 6am local time on Monday. The spokesman also said that there are currently no early indicators of the turnout, though he added that Egyptian communities in Arab Gulf countries continue to turn out heavily to vote. El-Sherif added that the NEA has not received any complaints over the electoral process, which has so far been “orderly.” Deputy Foreign Minister Hamdi Loza said during the press conference that the Egyptian foreign ministry's operation room has been following the voting process around the clock. Loza also encouraged Egyptian communities worldwide to continue participating in the elections. Since the start of the vote on Friday, several videos have been shared online from embassies worldwide showing Egyptian men and women celebrating while voting, blasting patriotic songs and wearing clothes with the Egyptian flag's colours of red, white and black. There are no official figures on the number of Egyptians abroad who are eligible to vote, though the total number of eligible voters in the national voter database is 59 million, according to NEA statistics. The vote will take place domestically from 26 to 28 March. President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and Moussa Mostafa Moussa, the head of the Ghad Party, are the only two candidates on the ballot.
