CAIRO: Parliamentary elections in Alexandria started early on Monday where 402 candidates are competing over eight individual seats while 33 lists are vying for 10 seats throughout the governorate. The heated competition is in the second constituency of El-Raml and Sidi Gaber in the individual seat between Chancellor Mahmoud El-Khodeiry and ex-NDP leader Tarek Talaat Mostafa. Freedom and Justice Party leading member Hamdy Hassan is also in a heated race against the Salafi Al-Nour Party candidate Essam Hassanien. The heavy rain did not deter voters from standing in front of the polling stations, including men and women, young and old. In the fourth constituency in front of Gamal El-Din El-Afghany Preparatory School, Sanaa Nabil, a nun in her 60s, said she came for the second time to vote after the referendum "because my voice now has a value, and I'm here today because I am Egyptian." The polling stations are calm with strong army presence and rare or sometimes non-existent police forces in sight. Cars drove through the fourth constituency, promoting Hassanien, on its list. Supporters of the FJP and Al-Nour and Egypt Nationalist Party were seen campaigning outside some poll stations. "Until now things are calm and civilized," FJP Alexandria coordinator Hussein Ibrahim told Daily News Egypt in front of El-Laban Primary School, adding that FJP will be satisfied with any result as long as they represent people's will. Al-Shehab Center for Human Rights in Alexandria released its first report regarding the elections documenting some violations of bribery by candidate Tarek Talaat Moustafa, contesting the individual seat in the second constituency. A reporter of Nile News Channel was denied entry to a polling station in El-Gamarek district. Judges were not present in some polling stations, while the voting started late in others due to the lack of the voting cards or the phosphoric ink.
