Voters poured into polling stations Wednesday in the second round of landmark elections that will shape Egypt's post-revolution future, with many backing Islamists who have already emerged as front-runners. Some 18.8 million Egyptians are eligible to cast their ballots in the second round of the three-phase legislative polls, the first since Hosni Mubarak was toppled in February after 30 years in power.
The powerful Muslim Brotherhood, which clinched the most seats in the opening phase through its Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), was eager to sustain the momentum. "For a strong parliament, which meets the demands, the concerns and the priorities of the people, let's continue," the party said on its official Facebook page.
Long queues formed outside polling stations in a third of Egypt's provinces, where voting kicked off at 8:00 am (0600 GMT). At the Mohammed Qureib school in the Giza working class Bahr al-Aatham neighbourhood, soldiers were letting voters through five or six at a time. A policeman admonished the voters not to campaign for candidates or talk about their preferences, but some were eager to explain why they were voting for the FJP.
"They have political experience and they are moderate," said Abdel Halim, a government employee. Another voter said, however, the Brotherhood would damage tourism. "They're going to ruin it and they'll ban going to the beach," said another voter. Abdel Halim scorned him: "You want to sit on the beach. We want to work for our country," highlighting a source of tension between Islamists and secularists.
In the impoverished district of Imbaba, also in Giza, voters queuing outside a polling station said they were casting their ballots for Islamist parties. "We tried the liberals and the secularists and they did nothing for us," said one voter, Mohammed Rashad, referring to Mubarak's ruling party. "The Islamists have God's law."
But Rashad, and other Islamist supporters outside the polling station, added wordly reasons to vote for Islamists. "The Salafis were providing services to the poor before they even formed a party," said Rashad. Scuffles broke out outside one polling station in Giza, state media reported, prompting officials to suspend voting temporarily at the Khaled Ibn al-Waleed school.
But the ruling military council said the process had been orderly so far, with fewer violations reported than the first round when parties were accused of campaigning outside polling stations. "The situation is calm overall and there is a large voter turnout," Hamdi Badeen said in a statement. Officials said turnout in the first phase, at 52 percent, was higher than expected. Polling on Wednesday was to end at 7:00 PM (1700 GMT) and continue on Thursday.
The election which kicked off on November 28 saw Islamist parties crush their liberal rivals, mirroring a pattern established in Tunisia and Morocco following a string of popular uprisings across the region. Voters are required to cast three ballots: two for individual candidates and one for a party or coalition, in the assembly's 498 seats. Parties affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood and the ultra-conservative Salafi movements won 65 percent of all votes, trouncing liberal parties who managed 29.3 percent.