Polling stations opened Tuesday morning to receive more than 14 million voters eligible to vote in the third and final round of People's Assembly elections, which began on 28 November. Elections for this phase are being held in nine governorates: Daqahlia, Gharbiya, Matrouh, Minya, New Valley, North Sinai, Qalyubiya, Qena and South Sinai. Supervising judges and polling station workers began work at 8 am at the 7,210 polling stations that will receive voters. In the third round, 2,754 candidates are competing for 150 People's Assembly seats, with 1,213 running for list-based and 1,541 for single-winner seats. Runoffs are scheduled to takes place on 10 and 11 January. The Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) and the Salafi-led Nour Party electoral lists have led in the polls during the first two rounds. Yousry Abdel Karim, head of the technical bureau of the High Judicial Elections Commission, said the commission is seeking to avoid flaws that were present in the first two rounds. He noted that 12,000 judges had been supervising polling stations in those rounds. Election officials have been instructed to ensure that the voting process concludes without any problems, Abdel Karim said. He added that female officials have been appointed to polling stations to check the identities of female voters wearing face veils. Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm
