Egyptians get a half-day off for voting

  CAIRO — Egyptian authorities granted government workers a half-day off on Monday in an attempt to bolster low turnout in the country’s election for the first legislature since the last one was dissolved in 2012. Monday was the second day of voting in 14 provinces, including Cairo’s twin city of Giza and the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria. Voting in Egypt’s other 13 provinces, including the capital Cairo, will take place next month. Final results are expected in December and the 596-seat chamber is expected to hold its inaugural session later in the month. The government has not released turnout figures for voting on Sunday. State media, however, acknowledged that turnout was generally weak, but again gave no figures. Associated Press reporters who toured polling centers on Sunday in several districts of Giza said there were no long voters’ lines such as there were in the multiple elections held since in the 2011 ouster of Hosni Mubarak. They said women and elderly people dominated those who cast their ballots. The decision to give government workers a half-day off on Monday reflected deep concern over the turnout, which analysts and observers have said would not exceed 10 percent. The state-owned Al-Ahram daily said the government appealed to private businesses to ensure that employees are able to get off work and vote. The low turnout continued on Monday morning. Private broadcaster CBC aired simultaneous live footage from 16 polling centers from various parts of the country that were mostly empty. The channel played advertisements between segments appealing to Egyptians to go out and vote.   In the Giza district of Dokki, there were no lines and only a slow trickle of voters by late Monday morning at one polling center. “We were expecting more than this. This is our country, and we have to stand by it,” said retiree Fatima Salam. “Unfortunately the youth aren’t coming out. Us, old people, are.” The next parliament is widely expected to support, rather than challenge, the policies of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sissi who is struggling to revive the economy, crush an insurgency and play an assertive political and military role in a turbulent Middle East. — AP