Party agents flooded the streets with banners and verses from the Koran as the third phase of Egypt's parliamentary election began on Tuesday, with Islamists trying to dominate an assembly that will rival the clout of the ruling generals. The army faced anger over its handling of protests that left 17 people dead in Cairo last month and an economic crisis has made it harder to meet the aspirations of citizens yearning for a better life since the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak.
In an industrial region north of Cairo where labour disputes over low wages preceded the wider protests that brought down Mubarak, optimism was high as residents lined up to vote. "I am glad to be alive to witness this - a free election in Egypt," said Ahmed Ali al-Nagar, a carpenter in his late 50s from Mahalla el-Kubra. "Workers had a big impact on the political outcome we are living through these days."
Islamists came late to the uprising that unseated Mubarak in February, but were well placed to seize the moment when Egyptians were handed the first chance in six decades to choose their representatives freely. The military says the parliamentary vote will not be derailed by the eruptions of violence. The Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) led after the first two rounds, and the strong showing by Islamist movements has sown unease among Western powers that only disowned Mubarak when his three-decade rule was crumbling.
Many citizens see the first fair election they can remember as a chance to end the blight of incompetent leadership and a culture of venality among the powerful that enriched a few and left millions in poverty. The concluding vote to parliament's lower house takes in regions of the rural south, which has the largest proportions of Christian voters, the Nile Delta region north of the capital Cairo, and the restive Sinai desert region to the east.
Turnout has been far higher and the election atmosphere less tense than in Mubarak's day, when ballot stuffing, thuggery and vote-rigging guaranteed landslide wins for his party. In Mahalla and the wealthier city of Mansoura, queues at polling stations were shorter than in previous rounds but voting appeared orderly.
Streets were dotted with the posters of parties, especially the Brotherhood and hard-line Islamist al-Nour party, promising an end to corruption. "I have chosen to vote for the Freedom and Justice Party as I like its talk and I think it has a long history and experience and I think they will help us the most," said Amany al-Mursy, a smiling middle-aged woman from Mansoura. Fourteen million eligible voters in nine regions were choosing who occupies 150 of the seats in parliament. The staggered lower-house election concludes with a run-off vote on January 10 and 11, with final results expected on January 13.