- Title: LIBYA: Egyptians in Libya cast early votes in presidential poll
- Date: 15th May 2012
- Summary: TRIPOLI, LIBYA (MAY 13, 2012) (REUTERS) PEOPLE OUTSIDE POLLING STATION EGYPTIAN VOTERS ENTERING SIGN READING: 'PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS, 2012' PEOPLE SITTING INSIDE POLLING STATION VARIOUS OF ELECTION COMMITTEE REGISTERING NAMES OF VOTERS EGYPTIAN MAN CASTING HIS BALLOT (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) TAMER MOHAMMED, EGYPTIAN VOTER: "The presidential election is the first step in putting Egypt on the right path after 30 years of repression and tyranny. We hope the next president will have power." VOTER COLLECTING HIS BALLOT PAPER EGYPTIAN I.D. CARD VOTER CASTING HIS BALLOT
- Embargoed: 30th May 2012 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Libya
- City:
- Country: Libya
- Topics: Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA84RV7R2C60EZKU3AWZIW6D481
- Aspect Ratio:
- Story Text: Egyptian expatriates in Libya begin voting in the country's first presidential election since the fall of Hosni Mubarak.
Egyptians in Libya headed to a polling station in Tripoli on Sunday (May 13) to vote for a new president in their home country.
Egypt's presidential election, set to be the freest it has ever had, began for citizens abroad on Friday (May 11) after a caustic televised debate between two candidates that produced no clear favourite to lead the country.
With no obvious winner for now, the fewer than one million expatriates worldwide registered to vote in consulates between May 11 and 17 may help swing the election. Recent polls suggest the race is wide open, with many citizens yet to make up their minds.
Tamer Mohammed, voting in the Libyan capital, said he hoped the poll would mark a clear break with the past.
"The presidential election is the first step in putting Egypt on the right path after 30 years of repression and tyranny. We hope the next president will have power," he said.
Expatriates who have registered to vote are a minority among the six to eight million Egyptians who live abroad, mostly in Europe, North America and Gulf Arab states, according to official figures cited by local media.
Egypt has never had a genuinely contested presidential election. But several candidates were disqualified last month and two recent court verdicts have challenged regulations for the vote, deepening the impression of a chaotic and fragile political transition towards a more democratic future.
The disorganised build-up to the first-round vote on May 23 and 24 has been marred by deadly street clashes in Cairo and lingering suspicions that the generals now in charge will try to manage democracy from behind the scenes after formally handing over to civilians by July 1.
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