09:00Monday saw the first day of voting in Egypt's 2014 presidential election, which features two candidates: former military chief Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and leftist Hamdeen Sabahi. The day was quieter and more peaceful than many national elections in Egypt in the last few years.One IED exploded near a polling station in Fayoum but led to no injuries, while police said another six were diffused in three locations including Giza and Kafr El-Sheikh. There were some isolated clashesbetween security forces and supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi, who argue the election is illegitimate. Police dispersed protests in Cairo, Alexandria and in Minya, among other places. There were some reports of violations, but these were limited in scope.Sabahi's campaign claimed security forces prevented some of their representatives from entering polling stations, which prompted them to file official complaints. They also reported that a military vehicle had blared pro-El-Sisi slogans. El-Sisi's campaign also reported come violations, including delays in opening some polling stations, preventing some of the campaign's representatives from monitoring operations inside polling stations. There was also much speculation about turnout yesterday; some reported long queues of enthusiastic voters, while others witnessed near empty polling stations.Sabahi's campaign said in a mid-day press conference that its reports indicated a modest turnout but expressed hopes that more people would show up after sundown. They especially urged young people to come out and vote, driven by the belief that youth will pick Sabahi. The pro-Brotherhood National Alliance in Support of Legitimacy, meanwhile, released a statement saying that many Egyptians had boycotted the vote. Tuesday will be a public holiday for government employees, after an announcement by the government last night, which may have an effect on turnout. The judicial body that is overseeing the voting process, the Presidential Election Commission (PEC) has also announced that voting will be extended by an hour today, to 10pm . Either way, we have a full day of voting ahead, with polling stations opening at 9am, and it is probably to early to speculate about overall turnout. For more information on the pro-Sisi, pro-Sabahi, and pro-boycott camps, see our break down here, and for all the details of yesterday's vote, see here. El-Sisi is widely expected to win by a comfortable majority, as he did in last week's expat vote, when he garnered 94.5 percent of the vote. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/102297.aspx
