'€œAlhamdulillah [praise God], it ran smoothly. The number of voters who cast their votes at the Cairo KBRI on Saturday reached 2,310,'€ said the head of the PPLN office in Egypt, Muhammad Saifuddin, as quoted by Antara news agency on Sunday.

He said the figure did not include votes from Indonesian citizens living in several cities outside Cairo. Voters residing outside Cairo cast their votes through drop boxes last week in cities including Iskandariyah, Mansourah, Tafahna, Tanta, Sharm El-Syeikh and Zakazik.

The president of the Indonesian Students Association (PPMI) in Egypt, Amrizal Batubara, expressed his pride for the enthusiasm of Indonesian voters, many of whom who were students, in exercising their constitutional rights.

'€œI'€™ve been here since 8 a.m., witnessing the students flocking to the embassy to cast their votes,'€ he said at the KBRI.

'€œBoth Indonesian people and students were enthusiastic to cast their votes. The PPLN'€™s services were also quite good. All ran well,'€ said Hamdani Ibrahim, an Indonesian student from Jambi.

Indonesian Ambassador to Egypt, Nurfaizi Suwandi, was the first voter to cast his ballot. He urged all voters to cast their votes properly to avoid their ballots being considered invalid.

The ambassador further said the election did not only give room for Indonesian citizens to express their aspirations but was also a chance for them to develop friendships with other Indonesians who live far from their homeland.

The polling day was also livened up by a door prize lottery, comprising two laptops, two Nokia mobile phones, one external hard drive and five flash disks.

'€œThe PPLN also provided lunch and transportation for the students,'€ said Saifuddin. (idb/ebf)

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