Egyptian voters turned out in big numbers on a mostly peaceful first day of voting today, driven by optimism to build a new era and the threat of fines if they stayed at home, vote monitors said today.
The country is holding its first parliamentary elections since the removal from power nine months ago of authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak.
The ruling army council, which has already extended polling to a second day, kept voting stations open an extra two hours until 9pm "to accommodate the high voter turnout".
The US State Department said early reports were "quite positive" on the elections. Spokesman Mark Toner said there were no reports of violence or irregularities, and turnout was high.
The Muslim Brotherhood's party and other Islamists expect to do well in the parliamentary election staggered over the next six weeks, but much remains uncertain in Egypt's complex and unfamiliar voting system of party lists and individuals.
Voters queued outside some polling centres in Cairo well before they opened at 8am local time, a rare sign of interest in political participation after decades of apathy.
In the nine months since a revolt ended the ex-president's 30-year rule, political change in Egypt has faltered, with the military apparently more focused on preserving its power and privilege than on fostering any democratic transformation.
The country's crisis has overshadowed the first election since the uprising that was meant to trigger transition to democratic rule.
However, Egyptians are voting under rules set by the military. They are choosing 498 members of the lower house from among 6,700 candidates; 332 seats will be selected from party lists according to proportional representation, while 166 seats will be allocated to independents under a first-past-the-post system.
Ten members will be nominated by the military. Seats are equally divided between professionals and farmers/workers, under an arrangement adopted in 1964 to ensure representation of 70 per cent of the populace. This has since become meaningless.
The second phase of voting will take place two weeks from now and the third in early January. Voting for the upper house, the Shura Council, is scheduled for January.
Forty party lists and blocs composed of multiple parties are standing, including at least three parties established by former ruling National Democratic Party members whom the democracy movement has tried and failed to exclude.
International organisations are permitted to “witness” rather than “monitor” the elections, although the independent Egyptian Human Rights Organisation, which had called for their postponement due to the volatile situation, will deploy monitors at polling stations.
As thousands of Egyptians protesting against military rule continued to occupy Cairo’s Tahrir Square yesterday, the head of the ruling armed forces council said the military would retain control to prevent the country from descending into chaos.
Field Marshal Muhammad Hussein Tantawi warned: “Egypt is at a crossroads . . . we will either succeed and move towards a smooth economic, political and social transition or the country will face grave consequences and we won’t allow it.”
He said the parliamentary election, set to begin in stages today, would proceed on time, and he urged voters to cast their ballots. He pledged that the army and police would provide security at polling stations and maintain order.
Demonstrators in Tahrir Square, the cradle of the democracy movement, has called on the former head of the international nuclear watchdog, Mohamed ElBaradei, to take the job vacated last week by discredited Essam Sharaf.
Mr ElBaradei has said he would drop his bid for the presidency if he was appointed prime minister. An authoritative source told The Irish Times that the entire ruling military council vetoed him as a possible replacement.
Dr ElBaradei, said the source, has been “waiting for the street to ask him [while] his popularity has snowballed”. The source observed the military is unprepared to share power.
Reuters