Seventy-three per cent of Egyptians in Bahrain turned out for the second round of voting for one of two presidential candidates who made it through to the final round in their country's election, said officials.

A total of 3,660 Egyptians, out of around 5,000 who live in Bahrain, had their say in the overseas voting at the Egyptian Embassy in Umm Al Hassam, which kicked off on June 3 and ended on Saturday.

The majority of the votes in Bahrain went to Freedom and Justice Party's Mohamed Morsy with 2,779 votes while Ahmed Shafiq, Egypt's last prime minister under former president Hosni Mubarak, polled 758 votes.

Meanwhile, 123 votes were declared void because voters ticked on both slots for the candidates, scribbled anti-government slogans on the ballot sheet or left them empty.

The historic vote will elect Egypt's first president since Hosni Mubarak, who was jailed for life last week for his role in the deaths of protesters who rallied against his regime last year.

Egyptian Ambassador Mohammed Ashraf Harbi Salama said the drop of 7pc was normal because there were people who did not initially vote for either candidate.

"We have kept our average voting rate within acceptable limits and it just dropped by 7pc because some people don't like both candidates," he said.

"Bahrain has recorded one of the highest turnouts in the first round and now in the second round amongst the foreign polling centres and this reflect the awareness our people here have.

"There were few voters in the first three days, after we opened the centre on June 3, but things took off in the last two days as people took their time to choose who they consider the best."

Voting will take place in Egypt on Saturday and Sunday. The new president is expected to be named on June 21. – TradeArabia News Service