Turnout low in Egyptian election shunned by critics

Egyptians turned out in low numbers yesterday 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.

With most of Sisi’s opponents behind bars, critics say the new chamber is unlikely to challenge the former army chief who toppled Egypt’s first freely-elected president in 2013.

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.