Egypt votes in second-phase elections amid tight security

Egyptians have been voting on Sunday and Monday in 13 of the country's 27 governorates in the second phase of parliamentary elections. Voters in Cairo, Suez, Port Said, Ismailia, and North and South Sinai have been among those casting ballots. Security is tight across the country, with 160,000 army personnel deployed at polling stations.

Curfew has been eased in North Sinai, where insurgents linked to Islamic State have conducted a brutal offensive, killing hundreds of soldiers and police over the past four years in a campaign that has escalated since former president Mohamed Morsi, a Muslim Brotherhood stalwart, was removed in July 2013.

Bombing

Security and the faltering economy remain the main issues, particularly since Islamic State, also known as Isis, claimed the bombing of a Russian airliner that crashed in Sinai on October 31st, killing 224 holidaymakers and devastating the lucrative tourist season just as it was beginning.

Out of a total of 568 elected seats, 282 are being contested in this phase, 222 by individuals fielded by parties and 60 on party-based lists. Twenty-eight additional legislators are appointed by the president.

Since Cairo has the largest number of seats, competition is stiff with more than 800 competing for 49 individual seats. Among the candidates are business tycoons, figures from the Mubarak era, a footballer, and a human rights activist.

Turnout was reported to be low, although government employees had been given half a day off to cast their ballots. Voter fatigue and bad weather are said to be factors discouraging participation. Egyptians have gone to the polls 14 times in referenda, presidential and parliamentary elections since 30-year president Hosni Mubarak was toppled in February 2011. The previous fundamentalist-dominated legislature, elected in 2011-12, was dissolved after six months.

Electoral coalition

Three secular parties – Free Egyptians, Future of the Homeland, and Wafd – that support president Abdel-Fattal al-Sisi won the largest number of individual seats in the first phase. An electoral coalition, the Love of

Egypt

, headed by ex-intelligence chief Samih Seif al-Yazal and loyal to the president, secured 60 seats allocated to parties.

Liberal and leftist parties formed after the 2011 uprising boycotted the vote, and the Muslim Brotherhood, which had won the largest number of seats and the presidency, has been outlawed.

Only 26.5 per cent of voters in 14 governorates participated in the first phase and 21 per cent in run-offs. Some 28.2 million voters are eligible to cast ballots in this phase compared with 27.4 million in the first.