Turnout at the end of the first day of Egyptian parliamentary elections on Saturday was a extremely low, 2,27 percent, according to the Supreme Elections Committee.
Streets were largely empty over the weekend during the first phase of the parliamentary elections. The second phase is expected to take place towards the end of November and finish on 2 December.
Reuters reported that the turnout for the weekend in total was 10 percent, but several outlets question this number.
Egypt’s parliament was dissolved following the overthrow of former president Hosni Mubarak during the 2011 popular protests during the Arab Spring. With the election of Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi as president in 2012, parliamentary elections, which enjoyed a large turnout, were dominated by the MB’s Freedom and Justice party together with its allies. At second place came the islamist bloc.
AÂ military coup removed Morsi from power in 2013. The current president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, was elected in 2014 in a landslide victory.
In a televised appearance over the weekend, al-Sisi urged Egyptian citizens to take to the polling stations and vote.
