Expat votes from Saudi to be added to total: Egypt's electoral body

Commission turns down legal appeal by Abul-Fotouh and Khaled Ali camps, saying disputed votes from the Kingdom's two major cities will be added to foreign tally

Egypt's electoral commission has turned down a legal appeal against counting expat votes cast in Saudi Arabia's largest cities Riyadh and Jeddah, saying on Friday that the votes will be added to the overseas tally.
Hatem Bagato, Secretary-General of the Supreme Presidential Electoral Commission (SPEC), made the announcement at a news conference.
SPEC said it had refrained from announcing the final vote count for Egyptians living in Saudi Arabia following complaints lodged by the campaigns of presidential contenders, Abdel Moneim Abul-FotouhandKhaled Ali. Both claim their supporters were obstructed from voting.
Representatives from the campaign of the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Mursi – expected to win a majority vote in Saudi Arabia – objected to SPEC's decision to delay announcing the results.
The electoral commission has called on Egypt's Foreign Ministry to present all necessary documents as soon as possible. The final official results for the first round of president elections are expected on 29 May.
There are between 6.7 million and 10 million Egyptians living and working abroad, according to the latest estimates.
Of those, approximately 587,000 registered to vote in Egypt's first post-Mubarak presidential elections.
Over 50 per cent of them (300,000) livein Saudi Arabia.