EGYPT EXTENDS PRESIDENTIAL VOTE TO WEDNESDAY

Soldiers stand guard outside a polling station on the second day of voting in the Egyptian election in Cairo, May 27, 2014(Photo:Reuters) — **Soldiers stand guard outside a polling station on the second day of voting in the Egyptian election in Cairo, May 27, 2014**(Photo:Reuters)

Cairo, 29 Rajab 1435/28 May 2014 (MINA) – Egypt Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim and the Presidential Elections Commission (PEC) has extended voting in Egypt’s presidential election by one more day, making Wednesday day three in the contest between Hamdeen Sabahi and Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi.

But after Wednesday’s extension, the vote is due to end at 9pm on Tuesday, the PEC said in the statement.

“It is believed the addition of the election day due to impact of the lack of votes cast,” MINA correspondent in Cairo Dany Novery, citing local reports.

Local media reported, not only that, Egypt hot weather could be the cause of the scarcity of people who came to the polling stations. “It is reported that on Tuesday (27/5) Egypt weather reaches 41 degrees,” added Danny.

There haven’t been many passing vehicles, he continued, in addition activities around Nasr City residents are also not as busy as usual. Previously some polling stations outside Cairo such as Ghorbiyah requested additional time for opening the polling stations caused by hot air makes people lazy to get out of the house.

The decision to extend the voting until Wednesday was in response to calls by “large swaths of the people” who were not able to cast their ballots during scheduled hours, a statement by the PEC said as cited by Ahram.

It added that the intense midday heat meant larger numbers of voters went at night, but it was not possible to extend voting later in the evening.

The commission had earlier said there were no plans to extend the voting time and officials have denied that turnout through the second polling day was low.

Seeking to boost the number of voters, the interim government declared Tuesday a public holiday and extended voting hours until 10pm, an hour later than planned.

Ahram Online reporters have reported a noticeably low turnout across several polling stations in Cairo on Monday and earlier on Tuesday.

El-Sisi’s only challenger in the poll is Hamdeen Sabahi, a leftist politician and a longtime dissident who finished third in the 2012 election that Morsi won.(L/K04/P03/E01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)