Egyptian authorities have warned people to vote or risk paying a fine, as they look to boost turnout in a lacklustre election that is virtually guaranteed to hand President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi a second four-year term.
El-Sissi faces only a token opponent in the vote, which resembles the referendums held by autocrats for decades before the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011 briefly raised hopes of democratic change.
Serious challengers were forced out or arrested, including former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq, who showed up late yesterday at a polling center to cast his ballot. It was his first public appearance since he announced his intention to run in December from the United Arab Emirates, where he had gone after narrowly losing the 2012 election to the Islamist Mohammed Morsi.
The UAE deported Shafiq after the announcement, and he was met at the Cairo airport by unidentified security men who escorted him to a hotel on the city's outskirts. He decided against running soon thereafter. Yesterday, he told reporters that voting was a "national duty," without elaborating.
The government is hoping for high turnout to lend the election legitimacy, and has staggered the voting over three days, with polls closing today at 9 p.m. (1900 GMT). Official results are expected on April 2.
The state-news agency MENA quoted unnamed election officials as saying that the law penalises boycotters, with a fine of around USD 30. Similar warnings have been issued in previous elections, with no real enforcement.
Nearly 60 million Egyptians are eligible to vote at some 13,700 polling centers. Turnout appears to be low so far, with short lines in front of some polling stations and others virtually empty. El-Sissi's only opponent is Moussa Mustafa Moussa, a little-known politician who supports the president and made no effort to campaign against him.
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Local media, which are dominated by pro-government commentators, have urged people to come out and vote, saying they have a national obligation to resist foreign plots aimed at sowing discord. Groups of loyalists can be seen clapping and dancing in front of some polling stations, as patriotic music plays from loudspeakers.
Outside a polling station in Cairo's Manial neighborhood, about two dozen voters, mainly older people, lined up in front of the gates shortly before polls opened.
"I am here because I need security and stability," said 44-year-old government employee Amina el-Sayed. She said her manager gave her and her colleagues a day off to vote.
Sayada Fathi, a 62-year-old voter, said she wasn't bothered by the lack of competition.
"Our beloved el-Sissi will win easily," she said.