Mosque preachers today called on Friday worshippers to be positive and take part in the presidential election, scheduled for the day after tomorrow, Sunday, without directing them to vote for a particular candidate. The electoral silence period, during which campaigning for candidates stops, began at midnight on Thursday.
The Ministry of Awqaf instructed preachers that the Friday sermon be titled “Positivity”, urging people to take part in what it called the electoral wedding.
Preachers and imams called on worshippers to cast their votes in the presidential election, stressing positivity in our lives, including the exercise of political rights, and the rejection of passivity, since passivity is a serious disease and it is forbidden for a Muslim to be passive, for religion commands us to work and participate.
In a related context, the director of the executive body of the National Election Authority, Counsellor Ahmed Bendary, affirmed that the authority had completed all necessary preparations to hold the presidential election inside the country on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday next week.
He said that the number of sub-polling stations at which Egyptians will cast their votes is 11,631, inside 9,376 electoral centres, including schools, youth centres and health units.
The marathon of next year’s 2024 presidential election begins in two days. The presidential election at home will last 3 days in Egypt, and four candidates are competing: Abdel Fattah Saeed Hussein Khalil al-Sisi (the current President), whose symbol is the star; Mohamed Farid Zahran, whose symbol is the sun; Abdel Sanad Yamama, whose symbol is the palm tree; and Hazem Mohamed Soliman, whose symbol is the ladder.
The National Authority’s decisions set out the procedures to be taken if a voter refuses to dip their finger in phosphorescent ink after casting their vote inside the polling station.
The procedures require the voter to dip the index finger of the right hand in phosphorescent ink; if the right index finger is disabled, the left index finger is used, and if that finger is disabled, any finger is dipped.
If the voter refuses to dip their finger in phosphorescent ink, they do not receive their national ID card back, and the head of the polling station records the incident in the procedures report; a memorandum is drawn up to that effect and handed to the commander of the security force to be sent to the Public Prosecution.
The authority has enlisted 15,000 judges out of 26,000 from all members of the judicial bodies across the republic to head the general and sub-committees, the custody committees and the monitoring committees.
Mohamed Salem, assistant to presidential candidate Farid Zahran for political affairs, said that the campaign is making final preparations before the start of the 2024 presidential election on Saturday, Sunday and Monday next week.
He explained, in a phone-in on Ten channel on Thursday evening, that the campaign has a main operations room to follow the voting of Egyptians at home, in addition to other operations rooms in the governorates.
He added that the campaign is making final arrangements to follow the mobilisation and the voting process, and urged Egyptians to head to the ballot boxes and take part in the electoral process.
He continued: “We repeat our call to Egyptian citizens to hold on to their constitutional right to take part in the electoral process and to choose the ideas and programmes that appeal to them and suit them.”
He noted that the campaign made sure to make the programme of its presidential candidate Farid Zahran available on its main page on social media platforms.
Yamama’s Campaign Forms Central Operations Rooms
The election campaign of presidential candidate Dr Abdel Sanad Yamama, head of the Wafd, announced the reinforcement of its central operations room and its connection through a communications network with the electoral rooms in Egypt’s governorates, to follow the course of the electoral process during voting.
The campaign affirmed its full cooperation with the National Election Authority and accredited rights organisations to monitor the presidential election. The campaign added that all preparations have been made to support the Wafd’s presidential candidate, Dr Abdel Sanad Yamama, and to follow the voting throughout the day.
Zaher El-Shoqonqeiry, spokesperson for presidential candidate Hazem Omar’s campaign, said that the campaign of presidential candidate Hazem Omar succeeded in delivering the message of the electoral programme to the people. El-Shoqonqeiry added, in a phone-in to the programme “Al-Youm” with presenter Dina Esmat on dmc: “The electoral programme of candidate Hazem Omar was marked by realism; it has measurable indicators and a timeline for which he will be held accountable if he does not implement it. The response from citizens was very positive, as was evident at the last conference yesterday, which was attended by large numbers exceeding 10,000 citizens.”
The spokesperson for presidential candidate Hazem Omar’s campaign continued: “We have finished forming the main operations room and operations rooms in 26 governorates, as well as work teams and delegates in all districts and villages. The central operations room has more than 50 young people, in addition to 25 others in the governorates, and there will be constant contact between the central operations room and the branch rooms in the governorates.”
Counsellor Mahmoud Fawzi, head of presidential candidate Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s campaign, said that his candidate “is able to complete the achievements he started, reap the fruits of these projects, and see further improvement in social and economic conditions over the next 6 years”.
He added, during his interview on the programme “Yahdoth fi Masr”, that these national projects implemented in recent years were a reason for reducing unemployment, which stood at 13% in 2013 and fell to 7% in 2023.
He continued: “Nothing was done in the country that was unnecessary; everything was done in its place and at its time”, noting that the developed road network is what moved Egypt from roughly 148th place to 28th worldwide in road quality, in addition to its role in reducing vehicle consumption and cleaning the air, and that it increased the incomes of the citizens who travel on it.
He pointed out that presidential candidate Sisi has a major development project, a large part of which has been implemented, and he will continue the achievements in the new presidential term; this project was born out of the 30 June revolution.
Prime Minister Dr Mostafa Madbouly today stressed the importance of achieving sustainability in the various development projects and activities, which has become essential to confronting climate change, noting that there is an urgent need to strike a balance between developing infrastructure projects and preserving environmental balance.
This came in a speech he delivered virtually during the “China-Indian Ocean Region Forum on Development Cooperation” hosted by the China International Development Cooperation Agency.
The Prime Minister expressed his appreciation to the Chinese government for organising the “China-Indian Ocean Region Forum on Development Cooperation”, which comes at a very important time when the need is growing to strengthen joint cooperation to confront the effects of climate change, especially in developing and emerging economies.
Given the scale of the huge investments required for green projects, the Prime Minister pointed in his speech to the importance of finding appropriate mechanisms to finance these investments, explaining that Egypt launched two important initiatives during COP27 to mobilise financing for mitigation and adaptation projects, amid declining financing capacities on a global scale.
The Prime Minister continued that the first initiative is the “Sharm El-Sheikh Guidebook for Just Financing”, which sets a framework for the concept and principles of just financing for climate action and provides guidance on how to enhance the investability of climate projects, especially for emerging economies.
The second initiative is the launch of the “NWFE” platform, which works to activate the concept of just financing by identifying 9 high-priority projects in the fields of adaptation and mitigation, in line with Egypt’s National Climate Change Strategy 2050 and its nationally determined contributions.
Dr Mostafa Madbouly affirmed the importance of building strong and comprehensive partnerships with global development partners to ensure a just global green transition and pave the way towards creating a better future for our peoples.
Social media pages circulated a post attributed to the Ministry of Health warning citizens not to go to hospitals if they feel symptoms of coronavirus, and saying the ministry would send response teams to carry out home testing.
A statement by the Cabinet’s Media Centre said that the centre contacted the Ministry of Health and Population, which denied the reports.
The ministry affirmed that there is no truth to the post attributed to the Ministry of Health warning citizens not to go to hospitals if they feel symptoms of coronavirus, or to the ministry sending response teams to carry out home testing, and that the circulating post is fake and has nothing at all to do with the ministry.
It stated that the ministry has not sent any of its medical teams to homes to examine people suspected of being infected with coronavirus, stressing that all hospitals across the republic (general, central, chest and fever hospitals) receive all patients, including those infected with coronavirus, carrying out all the necessary examinations and tests for them and providing appropriate treatment, and urging all citizens not to be swayed by these rumours, which aim to spread panic among them, and to obtain information from official sources.
The Occupation Arrests 3,670
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society revealed that the toll of arrests of Palestinians has risen to more than 3,670 since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza.
Palestinian Health Ministry: The Occupation Is Destroying the Medical System to Displace Palestinians
The spokesperson for the Ministry of Health in Gaza, Dr Ashraf Al-Qudra, said that the Israeli occupation is deliberately liquidating the medical system in the north of the Gaza Strip, which is now no longer functional, in line with Israel’s policy of forcibly displacing the population. He called on UN institutions to intervene urgently to protect the health system and to work to provide it with the necessary support of medicines, medical supplies and fuel, “so that we can provide life-saving health services to the wounded and sick”.
250,000 Settlers Apply for Gun Licences
The Israeli occupation army said that 5 of its soldiers were killed in battles in the Gaza Strip, one of them the son of Gadi Eisenkot, a minister in the war cabinet and former chief of staff. The occupation army said this raises the number of officers and soldiers killed since the start of the war on 7 October to 416.
UN Secretary-General: No Safe Place in Gaza
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said today, Friday, that there is no effective protection for civilians in Gaza and no safe place in the Strip, stressing that 85% of the Gaza Strip’s population have been forced to leave their homes without the most basic necessities of life. His statements came hours before the UN Security Council vote on the demand for a humanitarian ceasefire in the war between the Palestinian resistance and the occupation forces.
