Egypt annuls first-round parliament vote in quarter of constituencies over ‘violations’

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CAIRO (Reuters) -Egypt annulled parliamentary votes in over a quarter of first-round constituencies on Tuesday in one of the most significant disruptions to a national election in recent years.

Polls opened last week for the first of two rounds to elect the final parliament of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s third term, the last he is allowed under the current constitution. 

Under a hybrid system, seats are split between individual candidates and closed lists where the candidates are fixed.  

The National Elections Authority said on Tuesday that votes would be canceled in 19 of the 70 constituencies where individual candidates had competed in the first round, after appeals had been received and “violations” documented. 

In a press conference, NEA head Hazem Badawi listed breaches including electoral advertisements placed in front of polling stations, failure to give candidates or their representatives copies of vote tallies, and mismatches between the counts of different committees. 

On Monday, Sisi urged the NEA to “scrutinise all incidents and appeals” and take whatever decisions were necessary, including reruns, to protect transparency and ensure the new parliament reflects “the genuine will of Egyptians.”

Badawi also confirmed that the National List for Egypt had cleared the necessary threshold of 5% of registered voters to take the seats in the districts in the first round. 

The list, dominated by pro-government parties, was the only one to qualify for the ballot this year, effectively guaranteeing many candidates seats.

Turnout in the first round of the elections was around 23%, the NEA said. The second and final phase of voting is due to take place next week.

(Writing by Alexander Dziadosz; editing by Mark Heinrich)