Live updates: Egypt votes in first stage of parliamentary elections

Throughout the day, Mada Masr reporters and local correspondents will be providing updates on the first stage of Egypt's parliamentary elections. See below for a running timeline on day one of the polls.

11 pm: HEC praises smooth voting process, despite reports of violations

After the polls closed on Sunday, High Elections Commission (HEC) spokesperson Omar Marwan said everything went smoothly on the first day of voting.

Speaking at a press conference, Marwan said the HEC had received some complaints throughout the day, however — mainly that several polling stations opened late and allegations of campaign violations.

Some voters also reported that they weren’t allowed to cast their ballots because their identification cards were expired, despite HEC orders allowing them to do so.

Observers and judicial sources reported poor turnout across all the 14 governorates holding elections, but Marwan said the HEC would not release official voter participation numbers until the first phase of elections ends on Monday evening.

It was also reported that very few young people came out to vote, and women participated in significantly higher numbers than men.

Aside from low turnout, Sunday’s voting was marked by widespread confusion regarding the electoral lists, correspondents across the country told Mada Masr, as well as sometimes flagrant campaign violations.

Certain candidates and their supporters were trying to buy votes, witnesses told Mada, while many others were campaigning in front of polling stations in direct violation of HEC rules.

Observers also reported that several polling places opened late when judges didn’t arrive on time, and some elections monitors weren’t allowed to enter the stations.

9 pm: Scattered spats in Qena as polls close

As voting wound to a close on Sunday, allegations of illegal campaigning led to altercations between supporters of competing candidates outside polling stations in Qena.

In Nagaa Hammady, Mohamed al-Nahhas told Mada Masr that he witnessed a verbal altercation between people supporting candidate Ahmed Abbas and others supporting competitor Mohamed Abdel Aziz al-Ghoul. When the fight became violent, the candidates themselves had to intervene to break it up, Nahhas said.

Security forces had to disperse another fight between several candidates in the Qena district of Deshna, according to witness Mahmoud Hefny.

Ahmed Abdel Moez, an observer based in Qena, told Mada that fights also broke out between Nour Party supporters and people supporting an independent candidate. He said that such a high level of fervor could end up disrupting elections.

Voter turnout in Assiut picked up by the end of the day, but generally remained low throughout the country, particularly in the youth demographic.

Ayman Othman, a candidate for the Free Egyptians Party, believes that most people are waiting to vote on Monday, but added that the tight timeline for campaigning meant that candidates had a hard time reaching voters.

National Movement Party candidate Emad Awny said that low voter participation would translate into a lack of respect for a parliament that could end up dominated by religious parties and candidates with deep pockets.

8 pm: Man has fatal heart attack at polling station, half-day of work Monday to boost turnout, more violations reported

A school principle died Sunday after he suffered a heart attack as he supervised voting at a polling station in Beheira, Health Minister Ahmed Emad said.

The minister reported 16 cases of high blood pressure and general fatigue at polling stations on the first day of elections in Alexandria, Minya, Marsa Matrouh, Qena and Beni Suef.

As turnout numbers remained low into the evening, Prime Minister Sherif Ismail said government employees would only have a half day of work on Monday to give them the chance to head to the polls, the state-owned news site EgyNews reported.

In its third report of the day, the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) continued to note alleged elections violations. EOHR said it received complaints that campaigners were distributing bread to voters from government buildings in 6th of October City and Sheikh Zayed. Observers in Minya and Alexandria also added to earlier reports from Giza that candidates were buying votes.

Other reported violations in Giza, Alexandria and Minya included women and children standing near polling stations wearing t-shirts depicting certain candidates and their electoral symbols, the EOHR continued.

But Mohamed Abdu Saleh, spokesperson for the elections operations room at the Judges Club, said he hadn’t received any complaints of violations on the first day of the vote.

Speaking to the privately owned satellite channel CBC, he went to predict higher turnout on Monday as “Egyptians are known to wait until the last minute.”

According to the Baseera Center, 40 percent of voters polled on Sunday did not recognize any of the candidates’ names in their constituency, while 60 percent recognized at least one name. 

7 pm: Candidates accused of buying votes in Giza

Several voters told Mada Masr that campaigners were giving people LE100 to vote for candidate Farag Fathy Farag near the polling station at Shahid Atef al-Istoboli School in Badrasheen, a district in Giza. The women’s polling station there closed for an hour and a half after one woman tried to report the violation, prompting a scuffle.

Cash was being distributed to voters from a ground-floor office decorated with posters of Farag that was located about 50 meters away from the polling station. There was reportedly a long line of people leading to the office.

One disgruntled voter told Mada Masr that it’s fine for candidates to distribute money and gifts during Eid, but not in front of polling stations on an elections day. 

Several candidates had also set up booths immediately outside polling stations in Badrasheen, in violation of electoral rules.

As in other parts of the country, Badrasheen saw a low turnout and far more women than men voting. In keeping with reports from other cities, Mada Masr noted confusion among voters about the list system.

There were further reports of campaigners distributing gifts and LE150 in exchange for votes in Giza's Dokki and Agouza districts, according to the state-owned newspaper Al-Ahram.

Ahmed Mortada Mansour (son of Zamalek Club head Mortada Mansour) was also accused of buying votes for LE100 in cash, Al-Ahram said, citing a report from the Andalus Institute for Tolerance and anti-Violence Studies.

Supporters were handing out Mansour’s campaign materials to people in front of polling stations, the center said, while members of various campaigns distributed prayer mats and other products to potential voters.

The HEC's Marwan said that 256 complaints were received on the official elections hotline from 9 am to 2 pm. 

6 pm: Arab League not impressed with polling stations; observers keep lamenting low turnout  

The Arab League's delegation of observers made some “negative" notes on what they saw at polling stations across 11 governorates on Sunday — among them, the fact that a number of observers were barred from entering polling areas in Alexandria and Giza.

The stations claimed they hadn’t received orders to allow monitors entrance, the Arab League said. The organization plans to file a complaint with the HEC, EgyNews reported.

A delegation of 100 Arab League monitors from different countries in the region was dispatched to observe the first round of elections on Sunday.

Delegation members reported that some polling stations opened late because the presiding judges did not arrive on time, registered voter lists were missing, and others had run out of voting ink.

Other observers continued to lament low voter turnout.  In Qena, Somaya Othman stressed the urgent need for Egyptians to choose who they want to represent them in the upcoming parliament.

Ayman al-Wakeel, another observer in Qena, told Mada Masr that the turnout in major cities was a “farce,” but was more understandable in villages, where residents are typically not politically active. Wakeel also entreated Egyptians to head to the polls and help complete the political roadmap to democracy.

But many people who did show up at polling stations were angered that they didn’t open on time, observer Amany Ali told Mada Masr. She also drew a contrast between the tenor of this round of elections and the excitement around last year’s presidential elections, which saw a high turnout.

5 pm: 15 percent turnout in Qena; Alexandria governor, human rights council head push Egyptians to vote

Voter turnout in Qena was only 15 percent on Sunday, a judicial source told Mada Masr.

He attributed the low turnout to several factors. Sunday is a work day, and in addition, many people are unaware of the importance of the incoming parliament, which he called “a milestone in the nation’s future.” He urged voters to head to the polls.   

In Alexandria, Governor Hany al-Messiry (who cast his vote for the Raml district) said governorate officials had removed all campaigning material from around the polling stations, but some candidates put them back up again.   

This a clear violation of election bylaws, Messiry said in a press statement, and the governorate will make sure they are removed.

He also highlighted the importance of voting in this critical election.

Echoing officials, National Council for Human Rights head Mohamed Fayek said voting is a “national duty,” and these elections are the cornerstone of future democracy.

During a tour of schools in Giza, Fayek asserted that participating in these elections — the third step in the transitional political roadmap put in place after former President Mohamed Morsi’s ouster in July 2013 — is a human right guaranteed by the Constitution, the privately owned newspaper Al-Shorouk reported. 

Fayek also exhorted all Egyptians to cast their ballots, as seating the parliament is a crucial step to finalizing the state’s democratic institutions.

4 pm: Women wearing niqabs prevented from voting, Sama al-Masry's appeal delayed, nationalist songs play near polling stations, electoral violations continue

3 pm: Fights break out at polling stations as electoral violations continue

There was a severe lack of judges at polling stations in the morning, and by 11 am they were still not opened to voters, the EOHR reported.

There were also reports that parliamentary observers were banned from entering some polling stations.

EOHR stated that candidates were seen distributing money, sweets and pens outside polling stations in Giza. Clashes broke out there after supporters of certain candidates began distributing cash, the organization said, but security forces intervened and separated them.

Mada Masr’s correspondent in Assiut reported that, although polling stations in the area were almost empty, fights broke out between voters with competing political allegiances over accusations that candidates were breaking the mandate to stop campaigning during the elections.

The correspondent documented three instances of campaigners directing people to vote for a particular person and distributing posters from campaign booths.

Campaigners hand out election flyers in Assiut.

Witnesses also told a Mada Masr correspondent that another scuffle broke out between opponents and supporters of former MP Mohamed Sahafy, a candidate from the Egyptian Democratic Party, because he was standing in front of a polling station, shaking hands with voters and electioneering.

2 pm: Turnout remains low, number of women four times that of men

Voter turnout remained low in the afternoon, with HEC spokesperson Amr Marwan stating that a total of 16,957 votes had been cast so far, with the highest voter turnout in Alexandria and the lowest in the Red Sea Governorate.

Marwan also stated that four times more women than men had voted, and that very few young people had made an appearance at polling stations. Voters between the ages of 18 and 25 only cast 268 votes by the early afternoon, he reported.

Elections days have not been made a public holiday, making it difficult for people to vote before the working day is done.

Turnout abroad was similarly low, with the privately owned Al-Watan reporting that only 17 percent of registered voters had participated so far in the first stage of the elections. Only three people voted in New Zealand, but there was a larger voter turnout in Kuwait, Al-Watan reported.

A polling station in Upper Egypt was closed for an hour and a half in the middle of the day, only reopening at 2 pm after a spat between the supervising judge and the military soldier in charge of securing the space.

The incident took place in the village of Ezbet Donkol in Nagaa Hammady, Qena. Eyewitnesses said that when the judge asked the soldier to open the door to the polling station, the soldier replied that his job was just to provide security, not to serve the judge. A verbal altercation ensued.

1 pm: First few hours of voting riddled with electoral violations, reports of violence

12 pm: Confusion about list system as voters gather at polling stations

Correspondents on the ground are reporting low voter turnout, explaining that voters seem confused about the electoral system.

Mada Masr’s correspondent in Fayoum said that most voters did not fully grasp the concept of the list system and were only there to vote for individuals.

In Assiut, an elderly female voter who came with her daughter to the polling station seemed surprised when she was told about the list system, which she was seemingly unaware of before coming to cast her ballot.  However, she said that she was pleased with the electoral process overall, saying, “Everything is great and Egypt is happy.”

In southern Qena in Upper Egypt, dozens of disgruntled voters gathered outside the Baroud School to protest the slow voting process. Voters complained that the head of the polling station was taking too long to verify the identities of voters, and that only 30 people had been able to vote in the last two hours.

Sayed Ahmed Ali, a shop owner in the Sadat district in Assiut, called on people to participate, asserting the importance of the elections and warning that Brotherhood members were competing undercover. “These elections are a matter of life or death ... We won’t let the country be hijacked again,” he said.

9 am: Polling stations open, first day of elections begins

Polls opened on October 18 for the eighth time since the January 25 uprising.

Fourteen governorates in Upper Egypt and the West Delta are voting in the first stage of parliamentary elections on October 18-19, with Egyptians abroad voting on October 17-18. The final results of the first stage will be announced on October 30, with the second round of the poll on November 22-23.

Voting in the first round will take place in the governorates of Giza, Alexandria, Fayoum, Matrouh, Beheira, the Red Sea, Aswan, Luxor, Qena, Sohag, the New Valley, Assiut, Minya and Beni Suef.

Votes in this round will be cast for 286 seats, 226 of which will go to individual candidates and the remaining 60 to electoral lists.

According to the new parliamentary elections law, individual candidates account for 80 percent of seats in the new parliament, with lists accounting for one fifth. This has raised concerns that parties will have less influence, while giving a greater advantage to individuals with money, power and familial connections.

Egypt has been without a legislative body since June 2012. One of the first tasks of the new parliament will be to discuss and review hundreds of laws passed in the absence of parliament in the first 15 days of its convening.

For more information on parties and key players in the elections, check out Mada Masr’s infographic on who’s who in the elections. 

For a breakdown of the electoral lists and individual seats and geographical distribution of voting, see Mada Masr’s elections explainer.