Turnout in final stage of Egypt's parliamentary polls nears 30%

Voters' turnout rate of the second and final stage of Egypt's first parliamentary polls stood at 29.83 percent, the High Election Committee (HEC) told a news conference on Wednesday evening.

The second stage was held on Nov. 22 and 23 in 13 provinces out of the country's 27 including the capital Cairo, with more than 28 million eligible voters.

The figure is a little bit higher than that of the first stage, which was 26.56 percent, a record low compared with the more than 54 percent in 2012 elections that elected a parliament dominated by Islamists.

The announcement comes one day after a deadly suicide bombing at a hotel in Egypt's restive North Sinai province, which host judges monitoring the polls, killed four policemen, two judges and a civilian.

"Terrorism will not stop judges from performing their national duty and we are going on to complete the third phase of the country's future roadmap," HEC chairman, Judge Ayman Abbas, told reporters in the press conference.

The capital Cairo was surprisingly one of the provinces that saw lowest turnout with the participation of almost 20 percent of its eligible voters, while South Sinai was the first as more than 41 percent of its voters took part in the process.

The new parliament will consist of 596 seats, 448 of which will be for individuals, 120 for winners from party-based lists and the remaining 28 will be appointed by the president.

Over 55 million Egyptians out of the country's 94-million population have been eligible to vote in the two stages of the polls.

"Some 2,893 candidates contested over 222 seats for individuals and 60 seats for party-based lists in the second stage of the polls," the HEC chief said, noting that only nine individual candidates successfully secured their seats and the others will go on for the coming runoffs.

"For the Love of Egypt" list, one of the most loyal to the president, managed to garner all the 60 seats assigned for party-based lists during the second stage of the polls.

The most populous Arab state has been without a parliament for about three years, as the last one elected in late 2011, months after the ouster of long-time leader Hosni Mubarak, was dissolved in June 2012 by a court order.

President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi has been holding the legislative authority until a new parliament is elected as the third and final phase of the country's future roadmap to democracy, after approving a new constitution and electing a new president.

Electing a new parliament, whose inaugural session is expected in December, marks the completion of the three-stage future roadmap declared by Sisi as then-military chief on the ouster of former Brotherhood-oriented President Mohamed Morsi in early July 2013.

Sources: XINHUA