Egyptians abroad to be able to vote

Egyptians living abroad will be able to vote for the first time in the country’s elections due this year.

“Both Egyptians living in Egypt and abroad will be allowed to vote using their national identity cards,” Justice Minister Mohamed Abdel Aziz el-Guindy told Reuters after a cabinet meeting that discussed the new voting procedures, among other issues.

Expatriate Egyptians will be able to vote at their embassies, the prime minister’s media adviser Ahmed al-Seman told reporters.

Egyptians are expected to vote for a new parliament in September in the first election after mass protests ended former President Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year authoritarian rule in February.

Egyptians will then vote for a new president later in the year. The military council that has ruled Egypt since Mr. Mubarak’s ouster must approve the cabinet’s decision on voting before drafting it into law

Egypt has a population of 80 million and its high unemployment and low standard of living have pushed millions of Egyptians to seek a better life abroad, especially in the Gulf, Europe and Canada.

The council had approved in March a new law that lifted restrictions on the formation of political parties, freeing up a political scene long dominated by Mr. Mubarak's National Democratic Party (NDP). The NDP was dissolved recently.

Opposition leaders, activists and protesters had said last year’s parliamentary elections, in which the NDP won a majority, was rigged and dubbed it as the most fraudulent ever under Mr. Mubarak’s rule.

(Dina Al-Shibeeb of Al Arabiya can be reached at [email protected])