Judge Tarek Shebl, a member of the general secretariat of the Presidential Elections Commission (PEC), the judicial body supervising the poll, tells Al-Ahram’s Arabic news website that an estimated 25 million voters have cast their ballots.
He added that the official results will be announced either Sunday or Monday, 1 or 2 June, instead of the scheduled date of Thursday, 5 June, which coincides with the 47th anniversary of the 1967 Six-Day War – a controversial day in Egypt as it led to the Israeli occupation of the Sinai Peninsula, East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and the Golan Heights.
According to Shebl, the central polling stations in all governorates will announce the results in the early hours of Thursday. He added that candidates can appeal the results on Thursday.
“Then the PEC will review the results and decide on the appeals on Friday and Saturday to announce the results by Sunday or Monday,” said Shebl, adding that the law allows the PEC to announce the final results within five days from the end of voting.
Initial results already show Field Marshal Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi winning the majority of the votes, while spoilt ballots in some polling stations have exceeded the number of votes for his only rival, leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahi.
Source: Ahram Online
