Voter turnout in the early hours of the second day of parliamentary elections in Alexandria has been generally low, because most voters cast their ballots on Monday, the first day of elections.
However, in the Bitash and Hanoville neighborhoods, large numbers of voters went to the polls Tuesday. Many had postponed voting until the second day to avoid long voter lines.
Meanwhile, voter turnout at some polling stations in the Raml constituency was low compared to Monday. In other polling stations, the voting process was delayed for an hour and campaigning violations by some individual and list-based candidates continued outside polling stations.
Voter turnout was average at the Suyoof school complex in the Raml district, while a number of Freedom and Justice Party and Nour Party supporters campaigned over loudspeakers outside the polling stations. Military troops prevented supporters of both parties from entering polling stations after a number of them attempted to distribute campaign leaflets to voters.
A number of drivers with vehicles belonging to the two parties — as well as to candidate Tarek Talaat Mustafa, a businessman and ex-member of the National Democratic Party — offered voters free transport to polling stations for the second consecutive day.
In the Montazah constituency, Islamists continued to call on potential voters to cast their ballots.
Hundreds of voters continued to flock to polling stations in Alexandria's third district, which includes the Muharram Baik, Bab Shark, Mansheya, Gomruk, Karmooz and Attarine neighborhoods, although the numbers of voters declined as compared to the first day of elections.
Representatives of some political parties, including the Freedom and Justice Party, spent Monday night outside polling stations to guard the ballot boxes with the armed forces, making sure that all ballot boxes were sealed with red wax on Monday evening to prevent vote-rigging.
The Salafi-led Nour Party expects to win the single-winner seat for professionals in Alexandria's fourth district, said Amr Abdel Rahman, one of the members of the party's campaign.
Abdel Rahman added that Nour Party candidate Essam Hassanein's chances are “better than any of the other candidates.”
The fourth constituency, which encompasses the Mina al-Bassal, Labban, Dekheila, Borg al-Arab and Amreyah neighborhoods, is considered a Salafi stronghold and thus an important seat for them to win.
Abdel Moneim Suleiman, who has the support of Bedouins, who constitute the largest bloc of electorate in Amreyah, and Hamdy Hassan, a candidate from the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, are vying for the same seat.
Salafi movements have expanded their political presence in the area since the resignation of former President Hosni Mubarak. They have accused the Mubarak regime of persecuting them for decades, despite the Salafi credo prohibiting disobeying rulers.
The Nour Party was founded in Alexandria and became official on 12 June.
The party leads the Islamist Alliance electoral list, which brings together the Nour and Asala parties, as well as Jama’a al-Islamiya’s Construction and Development Party, and is expected to win approximately 30 percent of the seats in the new parliament.
Translated from the Arabic Edition
