CAIRO: On Monday night, the 32,683 ballot stations across Egypt closed their doors at 7 pm, announcing the end of the Shoura Council mid-term elections. Sorting the votes began directly after the collection of the ballot boxes and the results had not been announced at the time of going to press. The voting saw heated competition between the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) candidates, their independent counterparts and those belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood (MB). Violence erupted in the Sharqeya governorate after clashes broke out between NDP and MB supporters, resulting in the death of one citizen and the injury of three others. Complaints that the elections were rigged swept the constituencies where the 19 MB candidates were running. People protested being restricted from entering the poll stations as well as being turned away by the police when trying to cast their votes. Spokesman for the government-appointed High Elections Commission (HEC), judge Sameh El-Kashef assured the public in a televised press conference that all the reported incidents were individual occurrences and that the Interior Ministry worked in coordination with the HEC to investigate all complaints. With 96 NDP candidates competing for the 88 available parliamentary seats, state-run papers Al-Ahram and Al-Akhbar announced the expected victory of the ruling party. The two weeks preceding the elections saw the arrest of 900 MB supporters. They were primarily accused of campaigning while using religious slogans.
