CAIRO, March 26 (MENA) - Prime Minister Sherif Ismail cast his vote in the presidential elections on Monday at Moustafa Yussri School in Cairo district of Heliopolis. After casting his ballot, Sherif will headed for the central operations room at the Cabinet's Information and Decision Support Center to follow up the electoral process in all Egyptian governorates through videoconference. Minister of Trade and Industry Tariq Qabil said Monday the presidential election is considered to be an important step towards continuing to build modern Egypt with an effective political and economic role not only at the regional level but also at the international one. In press statements after casting his vote in the presidential election at Saiza Nabarawi School in the New Cairo suburb, Qabil underlined the achievements made during the past period which confirmed to the world that the Egyptian people are capable of overcoming all difficulties, as well as facing all challenges in order to achieve their hopes and aspirations towards building a modern democratic state. He said that the Egyptian people's wide participation in the presidential election is a message to the world which shows the Egyptians' determination to define their fate. Minister of Health Ahmed Emad Eddin Radi also cast his vote in the presidential election on Monday at El Shaheed Ibrahim el Refai School in the Cairo's suburb of El Tagammou El-Khames. Afterwards, Radi will head the crises management operations room set up by his ministry to follow up the implementation of plans for medically securing the presidential election. Meanwhile, Minister of Housing Mostafa Madboli cast his ballot at Secondary Hotel School in Sheikh Zayed city. At the same time, Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria and Sheikh el-Azhar have also cast their votes on Monday. In a statement, Pope Tawadros urged all Egyptians to be positive and cast their vote in the elections. Security was tightened in the precincts of the school. Polling stations across the nation opened at 9 a.m. on the first day of the presidential elections and are scheduled to close at 9 p.m. Vote count will immediately start after balloting ends Wednesday evening. The outcome of the vote should be announced on April 2. Incumbent President Abdel Fattah El Sisi is running for a second term in office against Moussa Moustafa Moussa, the head of the el-Ghad Party.
