His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, at the beginning of his sermon at the weekly Wednesday meeting, today, in the Church of the Archangel Michael in the Monastery of the Angel, Bahri, spoke about the presidential elections that will be held in a few days, and encouraged Egyptians abroad and at home to participate in the elections and express their opinion by participating.

His Holiness said: “I remind you that participation in the presidential elections is primarily a national matter. The elections will begin on December 1st for Egyptians abroad and will continue for three days. I encourage all Egyptians to go to voting places, embassies and consulates and express their opinion by participating.”

His Holiness stressed that participation in the presidential elections is a form of affirmation of citizenship. “One of the signs of being an Egyptian citizen linked to your homeland is to have a voice and express your choice, and you are the one who makes the choice.”

Regarding the presidential candidates participating in the elections, His Holiness said: “The four presidential candidates had committees that coordinated their work. We received the four committees at the Papal Residence, spoke with them, and learned about the content and vision they had and the vision they wanted to present. The choice remains for every Egyptian citizen.”

His Holiness added: “Because of the presence of citizens outside Egypt for many purposes, providing elections abroad is an appropriate and powerful opportunity, and the state has allocated for this the first three days of December before the holidays for Egyptians to express their participation, and although arriving to your voting place may be tiring, it is enough for you to feel that you have a responsibility and a role and participation in the process.”

His Holiness notified his listeners, saying: “Do not believe what is said about one of the presidential candidates being ‘successful’, lest you become lazy or neglect participating. This is a mistake! Express your opinion, be honest, participate and choose whoever you want.”

Then His Holiness directed his speech to the citizens inside the country and said: “We encourage the Egyptian citizens inside the country to participate in the elections on December 10, 11 and 12, and encourage each other. This is not a time for laziness, so that your conscience is clear that you exercised your constitutional right as a citizen in this entitlement that is only repeated every few years, especially with the facilities provided by the state in the voting process in terms of numbers and locations of voting areas and the ease of the process itself.”

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