Egyptians vote in country's first contested parliamentary elections

Egypt: Egyptians will cast ballots today in the initial phase of the country's first contested parliamentary elections. In this round, 1,760 candidates are competing for 164 seats in eight governorates, including Cairo, where the race has been hard fought and the results uncertain.

The main contenders are the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP); the United National Front for Change, a coalition of Marxists, centrists of the Wafd party and Nasserites; and independents representing the Muslim Brotherhood, which is formally banned but tolerated. The brotherhood has been castigated by secular politicians for campaigning under the controversial slogan, "Islam is the solution," which stirred rebellion in the 1980s.

While the brotherhood is expected to double its current 17 seats in the national assembly, the movement cannot seriously challenge the NDP, which has 404 seats in the outgoing chamber, dominates the administration and holds all the levers of state power.

The majority of independent candidates are NDP members who failed to secure nominations. Their certain victory ensures the party will maintain an overwhelming advantage over all its competitors combined.

The future of four cabinet ministers and eight NDP chairman of parliamentary committees is to be decided in this round, three of the latter being close associates of Gamal Mubarak, the reform-minded son of President Hosni Mubarak.

The liberal Ghad party, headed by Ayman Nour, who ran unsuccessfully against Mr Mubarak in the recent presidential contest, may not secure a seat as his party must win 5 per cent of the vote to qualify.

A total of 5,310 candidates, including 40 women, are contesting 444 seats in 222 constituencies. The president will appoint another 10 members.

Any run-off elections will be held on November 15th and the second and third rounds, deciding the fate of 280 seats in 18 governorates, will take place between November 20th and December 7th. The assembly has a six-year term.

During this race, as during earlier campaigns, opposition candidates have been harried and harassed by government supporters who do not accept any challenge to the dominance of the NDP.

However, for this election two innovations have been made at polling stations with the aim of countering flagrant vote rigging, a feature of earlier polls. Transparent ballot boxes have been introduced and a Cairo court has granted monitors from Egyptian non-governmental and human rights organisations "unfettered access" to polling stations.