Balloting ends Saturday for voters registered abroad to take part in Egypt's presidential run-off slated for June 16-17. Over 558,000 Egyptians in 160 countries have registered to vote in the run-off. The Election Committee at the Egyptian Embassy in Riyadh is heading the list with 162,000 registered voters followed by the Jeddah Committee with 100,000 voters. There are indications of a low turnout in the Kingdom compared to voting in the first round and Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Mursi is expected to grab a major share of votes in Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, sources expect Lt. Gen. Ahmad Shafiq to make a better show in Riyadh with probably three times the number votes he polled in the first round. Shafiq received about 4000 votes only in the first round placing him behind Mursi, Abdul Monem Abdul Futuh, Hamdeen Sabahy and Amr Moussa. Until Friday noon, about 20,000 voters had cast their ballots before the Riyadh Committee. In an unprecedented development, Shafiq's representative was suspended from supervising voting in Riyadh Friday following a complaint by Mursi's team that he was campaigning for his candidate. Hani Al-Faggi, Shafiq's representative, said he would protest the ruling. “I will stage a sit-in at the embassy to protest the decision,” Al-Faggi told Saudi Gazette over telephone. He described the decision as arbitrary, saying no action was not taken against anyone despite his persistent complaints that some of the postal ballots were suspicious. He said the postal companies did not implement the criteria required to ensure transparent voting. “Also, there were votes that were discarded after we drew attention. ... I will stage a sit-in at the embassy and I've informed the operations room for Lt. Gen. Ahmad Shafiq in Cairo explaining to them what took place was a conspiracy. I was talking to a voter who called my candidate a thief. I told him to file a lawsuit and left him, but he took my picture and told the committee I was campaigning for Shafiq.” Asked why the embassy did not warn him first before implementing the decision, Al-Faggi said, “Because I'm the first to appeal the elections in Riyadh. Due to doubts raised by me and my colleagues about 5000 votes were discarded. They represent 15 percent of total votes sent by mail so far. The decision is arbitrary and meant to keep me away from watching the postal votes. I consider this part of a well-organized plot to rig the votes.” __
