{"id":3418,"date":"2015-11-19T08:00:55","date_gmt":"2015-11-19T13:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thediplomaticenvoy.com\/?p=3418"},"modified":"2015-11-18T16:26:52","modified_gmt":"2015-11-18T21:26:52","slug":"egypts-parliamentary-elections-see-low-turnout-among-eligible-voters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/2015\/11\/19\/egypts-parliamentary-elections-see-low-turnout-among-eligible-voters\/","title":{"rendered":"Egypt\u2019s Parliamentary Elections See Low Turnout Among Eligible Voters"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Halimah Elmariah<\/a>
\nStaff Writer<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In mid-October, Egypt held parliamentary elections to fill the 596 open seats in Egypt\u2019s House of Representatives, which has been empty since the dissolution of the Egyptian Parliament in June 2012.<\/p>\n

Of the 596 lawmakers being elected, 448 will be voted in as independents, 120 on party lists, and 28 will be appointed by the president.<\/p>\n

The elections are designed to occur in two phases: one already took place in mid-October and another is scheduled for late November.<\/p>\n

According to Al Jazeera English, an overwhelming majority of the candidates running for a position in Parliament support President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who crushed all political opposition, including most notably the Muslim Brotherhood, which he dubbed a terrorist organization.<\/p>\n

The Guardian reports that the main political coalition seeking positions in the Parliament is the pro-Sisi \u201cFor the Love of Egypt,\u201d which includes leading businessmen and former members of Mubarak\u2019s National Democratic Party.<\/p>\n

This illustrates an unpluralistic governing body similar to that of ousted Muslim Brotherhood President Mohammed Morsi, whose Parliament was predominately Islamist.<\/p>\n

Reuters correspondents visited voting polls in its early stages and reported a low turnout of roughly 10 percent, a sharp decline from the previous parliamentary elections held in 2012 under President Morsi.<\/p>\n

A final count by the International Business Times indicated that turnout for the final first round was only 26.6 percent of the 27 million eligible voters.<\/p>\n

Egyptians living abroad were also able to vote at their local Egyptian Embassy. According to the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, only 4.5 percent of Egyptians living abroad participated.<\/p>\n

The exceedingly low turnout demonstrates an increasingly disengaged and less energized Egyptian population that once actively and willingly participated in government affairs since the first revolution in January 2011 that overthrew tyrant Hosni Mubarak.<\/p>\n

Even a fine of 500 Egyptian pounds, roughly $60, imposed by the High Elections Committee on those who would fail to vote did not galvanize Egyptians to head to voting stations, according to the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy.<\/p>\n

The Guardian writes that the low turnout also suggests that perhaps President Sisi, who promised a robust economy and stability, is losing his popularity among Egyptians, as their increasing demands are not met and their ability to voice any sign of indignation or dissent is firmly restricted.<\/p>\n

Hazem Hosny, a Cairo University political science professor told the Guardian, \u201cThis Parliament will be a Parliament of the president. It\u2019s really a Parliament to keep things as they are, to give an image of democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A final count by the International Business Times indicated that turnout for the final first round was only 26.6 percent of the 27 million eligible voters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3004,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[604,388],"tags":[404,483],"class_list":["post-3418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-november2015","category-mid-east","tag-elections","tag-egypt"],"yoast_head":"\nEgypt\u2019s Parliamentary Elections See Low Turnout Among Eligible Voters - The Diplomatic Envoy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/2015\/11\/19\/egypts-parliamentary-elections-see-low-turnout-among-eligible-voters\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Egypt\u2019s Parliamentary Elections See Low Turnout Among Eligible Voters - The Diplomatic Envoy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A final count by the International Business Times indicated that turnout for the final first round was only 26.6 percent of the 27 million eligible voters.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/2015\/11\/19\/egypts-parliamentary-elections-see-low-turnout-among-eligible-voters\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Diplomatic Envoy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-11-19T13:00:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Halimah Elmariah\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Halimah Elmariah\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.shu.edu\\\/thediplomaticenvoy\\\/2015\\\/11\\\/19\\\/egypts-parliamentary-elections-see-low-turnout-among-eligible-voters\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.shu.edu\\\/thediplomaticenvoy\\\/2015\\\/11\\\/19\\\/egypts-parliamentary-elections-see-low-turnout-among-eligible-voters\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Halimah Elmariah\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.shu.edu\\\/thediplomaticenvoy\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/82d1ac5c91d7a6a38e6e929ceea71090\"},\"headline\":\"Egypt\u2019s Parliamentary Elections See Low Turnout Among Eligible Voters\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-11-19T13:00:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.shu.edu\\\/thediplomaticenvoy\\\/2015\\\/11\\\/19\\\/egypts-parliamentary-elections-see-low-turnout-among-eligible-voters\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":420,\"commentCount\":0,\"keywords\":[\"Elections\",\"Egypt\"],\"articleSection\":[\"November 2015\",\"Middle East\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.shu.edu\\\/thediplomaticenvoy\\\/2015\\\/11\\\/19\\\/egypts-parliamentary-elections-see-low-turnout-among-eligible-voters\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.shu.edu\\\/thediplomaticenvoy\\\/2015\\\/11\\\/19\\\/egypts-parliamentary-elections-see-low-turnout-among-eligible-voters\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.shu.edu\\\/thediplomaticenvoy\\\/2015\\\/11\\\/19\\\/egypts-parliamentary-elections-see-low-turnout-among-eligible-voters\\\/\",\"name\":\"Egypt\u2019s Parliamentary Elections See Low Turnout Among Eligible Voters - The Diplomatic Envoy\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.shu.edu\\\/thediplomaticenvoy\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-11-19T13:00:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.shu.edu\\\/thediplomaticenvoy\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/82d1ac5c91d7a6a38e6e929ceea71090\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.shu.edu\\\/thediplomaticenvoy\\\/2015\\\/11\\\/19\\\/egypts-parliamentary-elections-see-low-turnout-among-eligible-voters\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.shu.edu\\\/thediplomaticenvoy\\\/2015\\\/11\\\/19\\\/egypts-parliamentary-elections-see-low-turnout-among-eligible-voters\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.shu.edu\\\/thediplomaticenvoy\\\/2015\\\/11\\\/19\\\/egypts-parliamentary-elections-see-low-turnout-among-eligible-voters\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.shu.edu\\\/thediplomaticenvoy\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Egypt\u2019s Parliamentary Elections See Low Turnout Among Eligible Voters\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.shu.edu\\\/thediplomaticenvoy\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.shu.edu\\\/thediplomaticenvoy\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Diplomatic Envoy\",\"description\":\"Words Beyond Borders\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.shu.edu\\\/thediplomaticenvoy\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.shu.edu\\\/thediplomaticenvoy\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/82d1ac5c91d7a6a38e6e929ceea71090\",\"name\":\"Halimah Elmariah\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/55d4943ab04f53aa2023f23f120a4414cbe5d713c9e3a528b096d08ef6f29b88?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/55d4943ab04f53aa2023f23f120a4414cbe5d713c9e3a528b096d08ef6f29b88?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/55d4943ab04f53aa2023f23f120a4414cbe5d713c9e3a528b096d08ef6f29b88?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Halimah Elmariah\"},\"description\":\"Contact Halimah at halimah.elmariah@student.shu.edu.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.shu.edu\\\/thediplomaticenvoy\\\/author\\\/elmariha\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Egypt\u2019s Parliamentary Elections See Low Turnout Among Eligible Voters - The Diplomatic Envoy","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/2015\/11\/19\/egypts-parliamentary-elections-see-low-turnout-among-eligible-voters\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Egypt\u2019s Parliamentary Elections See Low Turnout Among Eligible Voters - The Diplomatic Envoy","og_description":"A final count by the International Business Times indicated that turnout for the final first round was only 26.6 percent of the 27 million eligible voters.","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/2015\/11\/19\/egypts-parliamentary-elections-see-low-turnout-among-eligible-voters\/","og_site_name":"The Diplomatic Envoy","article_published_time":"2015-11-19T13:00:55+00:00","author":"Halimah Elmariah","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Halimah Elmariah","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/2015\/11\/19\/egypts-parliamentary-elections-see-low-turnout-among-eligible-voters\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/2015\/11\/19\/egypts-parliamentary-elections-see-low-turnout-among-eligible-voters\/"},"author":{"name":"Halimah Elmariah","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/#\/schema\/person\/82d1ac5c91d7a6a38e6e929ceea71090"},"headline":"Egypt\u2019s Parliamentary Elections See Low Turnout Among Eligible Voters","datePublished":"2015-11-19T13:00:55+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/2015\/11\/19\/egypts-parliamentary-elections-see-low-turnout-among-eligible-voters\/"},"wordCount":420,"commentCount":0,"keywords":["Elections","Egypt"],"articleSection":["November 2015","Middle East"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/2015\/11\/19\/egypts-parliamentary-elections-see-low-turnout-among-eligible-voters\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/2015\/11\/19\/egypts-parliamentary-elections-see-low-turnout-among-eligible-voters\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/2015\/11\/19\/egypts-parliamentary-elections-see-low-turnout-among-eligible-voters\/","name":"Egypt\u2019s Parliamentary Elections See Low Turnout Among Eligible Voters - The Diplomatic Envoy","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-11-19T13:00:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/#\/schema\/person\/82d1ac5c91d7a6a38e6e929ceea71090"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/2015\/11\/19\/egypts-parliamentary-elections-see-low-turnout-among-eligible-voters\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/2015\/11\/19\/egypts-parliamentary-elections-see-low-turnout-among-eligible-voters\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/2015\/11\/19\/egypts-parliamentary-elections-see-low-turnout-among-eligible-voters\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Egypt\u2019s Parliamentary Elections See Low Turnout Among Eligible Voters"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/","name":"The Diplomatic Envoy","description":"Words Beyond Borders","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/#\/schema\/person\/82d1ac5c91d7a6a38e6e929ceea71090","name":"Halimah Elmariah","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/55d4943ab04f53aa2023f23f120a4414cbe5d713c9e3a528b096d08ef6f29b88?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/55d4943ab04f53aa2023f23f120a4414cbe5d713c9e3a528b096d08ef6f29b88?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/55d4943ab04f53aa2023f23f120a4414cbe5d713c9e3a528b096d08ef6f29b88?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Halimah Elmariah"},"description":"Contact Halimah at halimah.elmariah@student.shu.edu.","url":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/author\/elmariha\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3004"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3418"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3418\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3440,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3418\/revisions\/3440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}