CAIRO: Political parties expressed optimism at the high voter turnout on the first day of the People's Assembly elections, generally applauding the process in spite of several noted violations. Monday was day one of the first round of Egypt's first parliamentary elections since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak. Day two of the first round is Tuesday. “We feel that today rejuvenates Egyptians … we also remember that this was achieved only through the blood of the martyrs to which we are thankful,” said Tarek Al-Malt of Al-Wasat Party. Chahir George of the Egypt Freedom Party (part of the ‘Revolution Continues' coalition), said, “The scene has by far exceeded my expectations, and I am struck by the high amount of participation.” “I'm cautiously optimistic as the transition will help move Egypt forward,” he said. George said he “absolutely respected the will of the Egyptian people in spite of the tough conditions,” noting the long queues at polling stations, in addition to the “relatively calm security situation.” Ahmed Abu Baraka of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) also said the elections were “an Egyptian celebration, with the train of democracy moving on in spite of everyone who ‘wanted to reverse it.'” Al-Malt and several members of different parties, such as Hisham Akram of the Justice Party and Yassin Tag Ad-Din of Al-Wafd Party, were also positive about the day's proceedings. The four representatives agreed that the high turnout was an indication of increasing political awareness among Egyptians, but mostly expressed fears at administrative failures and at violations by FJP campaigners at the polls. “FJP members set up booths outside the polling stations to help voters know where and how to vote, but of course they were wearing yellow jackets bearing the FJP logo on top of them,” said George. Several people reported seeing FJP flyers being distributed outside polling stations around Cairo. His statement was confirmed by Tag Ad-Din, who claimed similar violations occurred by Al-Nour Party members, which eventually led to altercations between both campaigners early in the morning. The late arrival of ballots was reported in several areas leading to significant delays, and in some cases, postponing voting by several hours. “Polling stations opened several hours late [in areas] across Cairo and Alexandria. In addition, some judges tried to sway voters towards a certain direction,” said Emad Abdel Ghaffour, head of Al-Nour Party. Akram said polling stations in Matareya opened late “because the ballot papers hadn't been delivered.” The Ibn Khaldun Center for Democratic Studies, monitoring the elections along with 36 other organizations in nine Egyptian governorates, said many polling stations opened late and that in some places, ballots arrived late. For example, in Shubra, the Khaled Ibn Waleed secondary school opened at 9:30 am. At Rod El-Farag School, judges were not present until late in the afternoon. Ain Shams was reportedly “a mess,” with ballots not arriving until 5 pm resulting in anger among voters. Protests took place at Taha Hussein, Atef El-Sadat and El-Salam secondary schools for the same reason. Election monitors were not allowed to enter El-Atef Military School in Matareya or Mohamed Farid school, the center said. Ehab Al-Kharat of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party noted unstamped ballots as an issue. “Last night a scandal erupted when ballots belonging to the Red Sea governorate were discovered bearing stamps on them, while in Cairo many [ballots] were not stamped,” said Al-Kharat, “This same issue was raised and reported before during the March referendum.” Still, party members were optimistic. Tag Ad-Din expects the results to be surprising, “with more people participating, no one will ever be sure which way it'll turn out.” In the Red Sea, few people came to vote, according to the Ibn Khaldoun Center, while in Alexandria, election procedures were moving slowly, which left judges frustrated.-Additional reporting by Lina Marwan.
