This is a guest post by SB
In less than two weeks time, stage one of the long anticipated elections in post Mubarek Egypt will take place. On November 28th 2011, nine governates (including Cairo, Alexandria, and Port Said) will participate in the first of three stages of parliamentary elections, thought to be the first truly free elections since the end of Mubarek’s 30 year rule. Nearly 44 million out of Egypt’s 82 million citizens are eligible to vote. This figure however does not include the estimated 8 million Egyptians who are living abroad.
In response to a lawsuit filed by a group of Egyptian expatriates against the High Commissioner of Elections, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Interior, Egypt recently amended their constitution to extend voting rights to its worldwide expatriate community. However, with just 5 days left to do so, only 99,120 expats have registered to vote, the majority of whom reside in Saudi Arabia, accounting for 40,729. Less than 5,000 of Egyptians in the US are reported to have registered thus far. This may have less to do with conscious choice and more to do with confusion and difficulty many are reporting in their efforts to register, either online or at local consulate offices.
There is good news for any Egyptians who still want to be involved in this historic election. Initial difficulties regarding the need for an NID (National Identity Number) are reported to have been addressed by Egypt’s Minister of Manpower and Emigration Ahmed Hassan Al-Borai. Egyptians living abroad will now be able to vote using their passports. Earlier reports stated Egyptians would vote by showing their National ID card with the new national numbering system. The name on the passport, Borai explains, will now be cross-referenced with the national ID number database.
Registration is available online at this address: http://www.elections2011.eg/
For those experiencing difficulty, there is also a video which shows (step by step) how to fill out the online form.
Many Egyptians are using Facebook to spread the information about online voter registration as well as offering trouble shooting assistance with problems encountered with the process. There is hope that by spreading this information via the mainstream media, the number of expatriate Egyptians registered to vote will significantly increase from the less than 100,000 (or .0125%) last counted on the elections2011.eg website.
