Egyptians continue to vote in second round of elections

Egyptians continue to cast their votes in second round of elections Egyptians headed to the polls again on Thursday in a phased election to choose the first post-revolution parliament, as liberals faced an uphill battle to compete with Islamist parties .
Ten months after a popular uprising ended Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule, the country's new political landscape looks set to be dominated by Islamist parties which clinched two thirds of the votes in the opening stage of the election.
Small queues formed outside polling stations which opened at 8am (0600 GMT) in a third of the country's 27 provinces, a noticeably smaller turnout than on Wednesday.
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 by urging Egyptians to turn out to vote in numbers.
During an ‘Arabstoday’ tour Thursday morning in the first electoral round in Giza, one of the voters said that he had been standing with dozens of vothers since 5am – local time – to reserve his place in the line, until the doors opened to receive voters inside the polling stations.
Schools in Giza have seen a heavy turnout in the second day of the elections, unlike the first round where voter numbers declined on the second day.
The liberal parties have accused Islamist movements of using their influence and money to continue campaigning on polling days in violation of electoral rules.
Amr Hamazy, who won a seat in the first round with the liberal coalition, the Egyptian bloc, slammed the "continued use of religious slogans".
In an article in the independent Al-Shorouq daily, he urged the electoral commission to "look into striking party lists and candidates who continue" to violate the rules.
Election commission chairman Abdel Moez Ibrahim acknowledged that despite efforts to prevent it, campaigning had been reported in several polling stations.
"It's something that troubles me very, very, very much," he told reporters.
Blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah voted on Thursday from the Tora prison where he is being held on charges of inciting violence during a demonstration in October.
Voters are required to cast three ballots - two for individual candidates and one for a party or coalition - for the 498 elected seats in the lower house of parliament.
The ruling military council which took power when Mubarak was ousted in February will nominate a further 10 MPs.
The second round of the three-stage polls was taking place in Cairo's twin city of Giza; Beni Sueif, south of the capital; the Nile Delta provinces of Menufiya, Sharqiya and Beheira; the canal cities of Ismailiya and Suez, and the southern cities of Sohag and Aswan.
Balloting began on Wednesday with a "large voter turnout," said Hamdi Badeen, a member of the ruling council.
Parties affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood and the ultra-conservative Salafi movements won 65 per cent of the vote in the first phase, trouncing liberal parties which managed 29.3 per cent.
"We tried the liberals and the secularists and they did nothing for us," said one voter, Mohammed Rashad, on Wednesday, referring to Mubarak's party. "The Islamists have God's law."
Liberal secularists who have felt elbowed out of the political process are now trying to carve out a role for themselves after the elections.
"We must anticipate in advance, we must no longer be taken by surprise by events," said renowned painter Mohammed Abla, 58.
"The intellectuals must absolutely play a role in the drafting of the country's constitution," he told a meeting of artists in Cairo.
The Muslim Brotherhood had been widely forecast to triumph as the country's best organised political movement, well known after decades of charitable work and its endurance through repeated crackdowns by the Mubarak regime.
A voter waiting in line told "Arabstoday": “I did not come to vote today to avoid the financial penalty; I came to participate in changing and purifying Egypt from icons of corruption.” An elderly voter agreed with him, saying “Despite my old age, I insist to participate, for I may not get another chance after 5 years, and I hope Egypt is revived and our children can lead a happy life.”
The polls closed on the first day of the second round at exactly 9pm local time, as announced by the Supreme Commission of Elections. The duration of the votes has been extended in various polling centers throughout the nine governorates “in the light of the growing turnout of voters to cast their votes.”
The operations room of the Ministry of Interior has observed a regularity of security services in all electoral centers and polling stations before voting starts on the last day of the second electoral round of the parliamentary elections. An inside source said in press statement that they “received notifications from the forces assigned to secure the polling centers confirming the security of ballot boxes, which have been closed and sealed with red wax yesterday after the voting process of the first day came to an end.”
Conversely, Observers without Borders and New World for Development and Human Rights have observed a number of violations on the first day of the second electoral round, calling on the Supreme Commission to promptly address the deficiencies and violations on the second day. The percentage of votes on the second day ranged between 30 to 40 per cent in most polling stations.
The most major violations were poor organisation, insufficient ballots in some stations, violation of voter confidentiality as well as collective voting in women’s polling stations, in addition to candidate supporters addressing voters and attempting to influence their choices.  
Observers also noted the absence of facilities for people with special needs, to enable them to enter polling stations and cast their votes, and the spread of out-of-control electoral propaganda of religious parties inside and outside the polling centres. Another observed violation was temporary pauses occurring in a number of polling stations due to fights or arguments between candidate supporters, voters, and members of the electoral centers, over voting rules and regulations.
There were also cases of physical violence between voters and candidate-loyalists due to electoral propaganda, which led to the detention of Hisham Salem, a professional individual candidate, facing charges for assaulting Samira Mosaad Abdullah, while doing her job in the polling station at Ahmed Zoweil School. The arrest followed a verbal argument between them caused by Salem accusing her of influencing voters to vote for the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party.
In a similar incident, chief of the electoral center at Aziz Abaza School in Sharqia detained an independent candidate, accusing him of contempt to the judge in charge. Candidate Essam Erfan’s brother tried to convince the judge to let voters cast their votes after the specified time of voting, but it turned into a verbal fight with the judge, leading to the candidate’s detention.
Meanwhile, those who want to run in Egypt's presidential election will need the support of 30 members of parliament or 30,000 citizens, according to a new draft of a presidential election law. Details of the new rules were published by the Egyptian state news agency on Thursday.
The draft also allows any party with at least one elected seat in parliament to field one of its members for the post, the Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported, citing the draft.
The new rules for the election due in June will replace old conditions in place during former dictator Hosni Mubarak's era and which effectively ruled out any realistic challenge to his rule.
The army council, which has ruled Egypt since Mubarak was ousted in February, has pledged to hand over powers to the elected president by the start of July and return to barracks.
MENA said the draft had been presented to the army's newly appointed consultative council for review.
The 30,000 signatures supporting a presidential candidate must include people from at least 15 of Egypt's 27 provinces, MENA said.
Mubarak, now being tried over the killing of protesters and abuse of power, was serving his fifth six-year presidential term when he was ousted by a popular uprising.
For most of his three decades in office, his presidential terms were preceded by a single candidate referendum, which he always won with crushing majorities.
Egypt held its first multi-candidate race in 2005, which Mubarak won, although the rules meant there was no significant challenger and the vote was marred by widespread abuses.