Turnout low in Egypt's long-awaited parliamentary election

October 18, 2015 21:51

Egyptians turned out in low numbers to vote in the first phase of an election hailed by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as a milestone on the road to democracy but shunned by critics who say the new chamber will rubber stamp his decisions.

Many voters were elderly supporters of Sisi, who as the army chief toppled Egypt's first freely-elected president in 2013 then launched a fierce crackdown on dissent.

Egypt has had no parliament since June 2012 when a court dissolved the democratically-elected main chamber, then dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood, reversing a key accomplishment of the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak. Sisi, the latest man from the military to rule Egypt, ousted elected president Mohamed Morsi of the Brotherhood after mass protests against him.

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