First round of Egyptian elections open

Egyptians go to polls in a highly criticised complex system Cairo - Akram Ali with Agencies   Egyptians have started casting their ballots for the first parliamentary elections since former president Hosni Mubarak was toppled in a popular uprising earlier this year. Police were stationed outside polling stations across Egypt on Monday morning as elections, billed as the first free and fair votes that Egyptians have seen in over 50 years, began.
Many Egyptians remained worried that there may be outbreaks of violence at polling stations, while others have been concerned that the nation remains polarised over the choice of candidates.
In some parts of the country, polling stations had not opened more than an hour after the time scheduled, as ballot papers and the ink used to mark voters' fingers had not arrived .
Some polling stations are gender segregated, with men and women standing in separate lines to cast their vote.
Voters on Monday are choosing 168 of the 498 deputies, which will form the new lower house of parliament. The vote is only the first stage in an election timetable which lasts until March 2012 and covers two houses of parliament.
In this round, some of Egypt’s most populous areas will vote including Cairo, Alexandria, Assiut, Port Said and Luxor. Over 50 political parties are contesting the elections, along with thousands of candidates running as independents.
Egyptians in Cairo, Alexandria and other areas included in the first phase of the staggered lower house election were allowed to vote from 8 a.m. (0600 GMT). Polls close at 7 p.m. (1700 GMT) but voters in this round can also vote on Tuesday.
After two days of voting in the first stage of the elections for the lower parliament, other cities and regions will follow on December 14 and January 3.
After these, another round of voting will take place from January 29 for the upper house of parliament and presidential elections are to be held by no later than the end of June next year.
But the preparations have been marred by a new wave of demonstrations, as protesters occupied Cairo's Tahrir Square to demand the military council that replaced Mubarak hand power to a civilian government.
The decision by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) to appoint Kamal al-Ganzouri, a 78-year-old former Mubarak-era politician, as caretaker prime minister last week has fanned the flames of popular anger.
Tantawi held that the assigned government led by Ganzouri was given absolute authority. While Ganzouri stated some conditions to be found in any of the ministers selected to a ministerial portfolio in his coming cabinet, especially Interior minister.         
Tantawi added, in a news conference held today at the Central Military Region, “There are several challenges encountering our home, while several hands are playing to deprive Egypt of security and stability and topple the Egyptian State. The Armed Forces shall not lift their guns against any Egyptian citizen and shall never use violence against the people of Egypt.” He also reiterated that the political role of the armed forces hasn’t affected its military efficiency.       
The Field Marshal confirmed that his meeting with El Baradei and Mousa, the Potential Presidential Candidates, was upon their request for holding deliberations on developments occurred to the current conditions.       
Ganzouri confirmed ina a meeting earlier that the minister of Interior should be as young as possible to have the ability to take the lead of the loose security conditions and turn the country into more secure place.          
Al-Ganzouri, 78, who was prime minister at the time of the ousted president Mubarak is regarded as the first in the history of modern Egypt to leave the position and return to the post. He is still holding a series of meetings and deliberations with political forces including a number of revolutionary youth coalitions founded after the success of the revolution that toppled the 30-years-in-power Mubarak who was toppled within 18 days of protestors’ uproar.
Egypt's military ruler has warned of "extremely grave" consequences if the country does not pull through its current crisis.
Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, who heads the governing Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF), claimed on Sunday that "foreign hands" were behind the current turmoil.
In comments carried by the nation's official news agency, Tantawi rejected calls for the SCAF's leadership to step down immediately. Demonstrators had called for their replacement by a "national salvation" government to run the country's affairs until a president is elected.
Tantawi instead promised the creation of a 50-member advisory council that would advise the SCAF.
At least 41 protesters have been killed in nine days of clashes across Egypt and more than 2,000 have been wounded.
The military took power when Mubarak was toppled. It has come under intense criticism for most of the past nine months for its failure to restore security, stop the rapid worsening of the economy or introduce the far-reaching reforms called for by the youth groups behind Mubarak's fall and the ongoing protest movement.
Tantawi said the military will follow through with its road map for handing over power.The SCAF never set a precise date for transferring authority to an elected civilian administration, only pledging that presidential elections, the last step in the handover process, will be held before the end of June, 2012.
"We will not allow troublemakers to meddle in the elections," Tantawi said on Sunday.
He added: "Egypt is at a crossroads; either we succeed politically, economically and socially or the consequences will be extremely grave and we will not allow that. None of this would have happened if there were no foreign hands."
Apparently alluding to the protesters in Tahrir Square, Tantawi said: "We will not allow a small minority of people who don't understand to harm Egypt's stability."
Tantawi's assertion is similar to those made by Mubarak in his final days in power. Tantawi was Mubarak's defence minister for 20 years.
On the eve of elections however, 18-year-old student Raghda was looking forward.
“It’s our first chance to vote and the vote will have a value,” Raghda told AFP in Tahrir Square, the cradle of Egypt’s revolution where hundreds of thousands forced Mubarak’s downfall.
The election itself looked to be in danger last week as unrest gripped the country, but military ruler Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi has stuck to the schedule and called for a large turnout.
Much remains unclear about how the new parliament will function and whether it will be able to resolve a standoff with the armed forces over how much power they will retain under a new constitution to be written next year.
Shadi Hamid, research director at the Doha Brookings Center, told Reuters that the parliamentary vote phased over weeks until Jan. 10 was the first real benchmark of progress in Egypt’s transition.
“It will also tell us how much Egyptians are invested in this political process. If turnout is low, it will mean there is widespread disaffection among Egyptians and they don't believe that real change is possible through the electoral process.”
In the absence of polling data and a precedent for the vote, the results are difficult to call, but a party set up by the formerly banned Islamist Muslim Brotherhood is expected to emerge as the largest single grouping.
Army council member General Mamdouh Shahin said the new assembly would have no right to remove a government appointed by the council using its “presidential” powers -- a stance the new parliament may try to challenge, according to Reuters.
The military had envisaged that once upper house polls are completed in March, parliament would pick a constituent assembly to write a constitution to be approved by a referendum before a presidential election. That would have let the generals stay in power until late 2012 or early 2013.
The faster timetable agreed under pressure from the street has thrown up many questions about how the process will unfold and how much influence the army will retain behind the scenes.
The United States and its European allies, which have long valued Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel, have urged the generals to step aside swiftly, apparently seeing them as causing, not curing instability in the most populous Arab nation.