BEHEIRA/MENUFIYA: The voter turnout was high in the Delta governorates of Beheira and Menufiya in the first day of the second round of parliamentary elections, as the Supreme Electoral Commission (SEC) suspended voting for party lists in two constituencies in the two governorates.
The Administrative Court obliged SEC earlier to suspend voting in the second constituency for party lists in Beheira and the first constituency for party lists in Menufiya because of mistakes in the ballots, which took its toll on the turnout in these areas.
The voting on party lists was postponed to the run-offs on Dec. 21-22.
Yet overall, the two governorates witnessed high turnout especially in the densely-populated governorate of Beheira, where 244 individual candidates are vying for 10 seats while 23 party-lists are vying for 20 seats. In El-Sadat and Menouf cities in Menufiya, 200 individual candidates are contesting eight seats while 19 party-lists are vying for 16 seats.
In Beheira, party lists saw a strong showing of candidates from the Egyptian Citizen Party, an offshoot of the dissolved National Democratic Party (NDP), headed by Adel Shalaan, NDP representative for 10 years.
Shalaan intensified campaigning for his party across the governorate, perhaps securing third place for his party after the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) and the Salafi Al-Nour Party.
Women campaigners for the FJP and Al-Nour were reportedly door-knocking to encourage women to vote by offering free rides to the polling station.
Other parties completely disappeared from the scene.
An election monitor from the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights told Daily News Egypt he saw two busses belonging to the FJP and Al-Nour transporting groups of voters to polling stations.
He described the election process as “good” barring minor violations, but criticized the limited presence of police to secure the voting stations.
El-Shehab Center for Human Rights documented a violation by employees inside polling stations who were caught smuggling ballots a day before the elections.
The center filed an official complaint about the incident.
FJP leader Mohamed Gamal Hishmat, who heads the party’s list, said that the voting process is “civilized” and proves the level of awareness of Egyptians and their willingness to elect their representatives.
In Menufiya, tuk-tuks and small trucks were used for campaigning, while children were encouraging citizens to vote for certain parties in front of polling stations.
The governorate witnessed for the first time the absence of prominent NDP candidate and business tycoon Ahmed Ezz, who is now serving a sentence in Tora prison.
His main opponent, Ibrahim Haggag, who is contesting one of the single-winner seats, was relieved that his archrival was no longer present on the scene.
"Ezz’s absence means the absence of fraud and corruption, which has made everyone psychologically comfortable," he said, adding that Ezz used the carrot and the stick to coerce people to vote for him.
Voters were also relieved that other NDP candidates like Amin Mubarak, the cousin of ousted president Hosni Mubarak, and Kamal El-Shazli, former parliamentarian affairs minister and head of the majority party at the parliemant who passed away last year, were also gone.
"We have finally been set free from the corrupt group that ruined the reputation of this governorate. No one will control us again," said Moustafa Abdel Kader, 60.
The competition is mainly between the FJP, Al-Wafd and the Revolution Continues Alliance, while the rest of the parties are relatively absent, except for some big banners.
