CAIRO - Egyptian nationals living abroad started Thursday registering their data on the website of the electoral committee, in order to vote in Egypt's first parliamentary polls since the ousting of Hosni Mubarak, as the Foreign Ministry estimated the number of Egyptian expatriates at 8 million. Around 10,000 expatriates registered their data on the website of the Higher Election Commission during the ten-day registration process that will end on November 19, in Egyptian embassies and consulates worldwide. “There are 8 million Egyptian expatriates, according to the Foreign Ministry. However, the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics [CAPMAS] said last year that there were 1.5 million,” said Abu Bakr el-Guindi, the CAPMAS chief. He added that his establishment is waiting for the new figures to be forwarded by the Foreign Ministry. El-Guindi, who has been in office since 2007, pointed out that around 50 million Egyptians have the right to vote in the parliamentary polls due to start on November 28. “There will be around 53,000 constituencies nationwide, meaning that about 1,000 voters will be able to cast their ballots in each constituency,” he explained. A new icon was added to the website of the Higher Election Commission ("http://www.elections2011.eg" www.elections2011.eg) to help Egyptians abroad to register for the elections with the phrase: “This is only for Egyptian expatriates.” The registration process began at 8am yesterday with a big turnout, according to a statement made by Prime Minister Essam Sharaf on his official Facebook page. Sharaf added that this is something very important in Egypt's history. "Nothing can be greater than allowing all Egyptians, wherever they are, to participate in the establishment of permanent legitimacy.” The Egyptian consulates in the Saudi capital of Riyadh and Austria's Vienna, as well as dozens of embassies, have started the manual process, calling on the expatriates to provide their local IDs or passports. Some Egyptians living in the Gulf region complain that their passports are sometimes kept by their employers, who always refuse to co-operate in such matters. An administrative court, which rules in lawsuits in which the State is party, ruled that Egyptian nationals living abroad have the right to vote and that the Government must implement the ruling. The Higher Election Commission and Minister of Justice Abdel-Aziz el-Guini declared that a new law and an amendment to the Constitutional Declaration will soon be issued to define the mechanism for expatriate voting. Egyptian expatriates have launched a ‘Right2Vote' campaign, using social media to connect and advocate for the right to vote with the popular hashtags #egyabroad and #right2vote on Twitter. People issued with an identification card after September 27, 2011 are not eligible to vote in the parliamentary elections, but they will be allowed to vote in a referendum and presidential elections, anticipated for sometime next year. More than 120 countries globally grant nationals living abroad the right to vote in national elections.
