VOTING IN EGYPT

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28321, 5 July 1957, Page 11

VOTING IN EGYPT

16 Dead And 100 Arrests

(Rec. 8.30 p.m.) CAIRO, July 3. Sixteen persons were killed and more than 100 arrested during voting in today’s Egyptian elections.

Officials announced tonight that in Mansoura voters were arrested after they forcibly entered a polling station and attacked members of the electoral committee. Demonstrators in Benha dispersed after police fired shots over their heads. Twenty-two were arrested and six injured there.

Eighty were arrested at Disna. All the 1241 candidates for the National Assembly have been chosen by a Ministerial committee headed by President Nasser, and all support him. The candidates, worn out after a sleepless night, were still standing outside the polling stations canvassing for support today. They will not know their fate until tomorrow, when sealed ballot boxes will be opened at 9 a.m. Twenty per cent, of the 5,964,424 registered voters—including 200.000 women—did not have a vote, since 72 cand.idates have been returned unopposed. As all candidates are Nasser supporters, there has been no great controversy in the hustings. Electioneering has largely been a matter of personalities, with candidates promising jobs for all, slum clearance, and an improvement in local government.

Five women have campaigned with their own slogans on such issues as the abolition of polygamy, and easier divorce for women.

Because of the illiteracy of 80 per cent, of Egypt’s population, candidates were represented on ballot papers by signs, such as trees and houses. Thousands of Egyptians travelled free on trains and buses last night to reach polling stations in the provinces, and in Cairo’s crowded Central Railway Station peasants danced with joy at the opportunity of visiting their distant homes.

Queues formed early outside polling booths as voters tried to avoid the heat.

In some districts women had been allotted a special two-hour period to vote, while in others they were using separate booths.