Voting in the 2018 presidential election kicked off yesterday. Voters across the nation cast their ballots under heavy security. Over 11,000 polling stations nationwide will again be open 9:00am to 9:00pm today and tomorrow.

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi cast his ballot in Heliopolis. Prime Minister Sherif Ismail also voted yesterday and nudged Egyptians to head to the polls, according to a Cabinet statement. The prime minister took the opportunity to tell reporters that citizens have to vote if they want to see the country continue to develop, Al Mal reports.

The government wants you to vote, but don’t expect to get a day off work: Cabinet spokesman Ashraf Sultan denied yesterday that state employees will get a holiday today or tomorrow to be able to vote, since they can do so before or after working hours, Al Masry Al Youm reports. Meanwhile, the National Elections Commission said yesterday it hopes the voter turnout will increase during the second and third day of balloting, Ahram Online reports.

Elsewhere this morning: Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser defiantly defended the prospect of an international IPO for the company, insisting the oil giant will be ready for a listing in 2H2018. His statement come despite skepticism from investors and reports of insiders questioning the seriousness if the listing. “There’s a lot of work that is still ongoing, the IPO is ongoing,” Nasser told Bloomberg TV in an interview in New York.

More than 100 Russian diplomats have been ordered to leave the US, Canada, and EU countries in response to Moscow’s alleged involvement in a chemical weapons attack on a former Russian spy in the UK earlier this month, Bloomberg reports. The US alone expelled 60 diplomats, marking the largest expulsion in US history. US Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders described the attack as “the latest in [Russia’s] ongoing pattern of destabilizing activities around the world.”