(VOVworld) – Egypt’s Presidential Election Commission (PEC) decided on Tuesday to extend voting one more day until 10pm Wednesday, because of reported low turnout during the 2 scheduled voting days.

Several parties and politicians asked the Commission to extend the voting and create special ballot boxes for voters living far from their registered polls. Several Egyptian news agencies blamed the low voter turnout on the PEC not opening special polls. But the Council rejected this accusation, saying that easing regulations would allow a voter to vote more than once.

An unnamed source reported that only 8 million voters cast ballots on Tuesday, a much lower number than expected. The PEC says 14 million voters went to the polling stations on Monday.

A man walks near replicas of Giza Pyramid covered with banners of presidential candidate and former army chief in Cairo May 26, 2014. (Photo: Reuters)

The Egyptian government declared a day off on Tuesday and ordered all banks to close in an effort to boost voter turnout. The government also encouraged the PEC to extend voting hours on Tuesday because the hot weather was deterring voters.