Four people carrying bladed weapons assaulted a soldier securing a polling station on Tuesday.
The assault took place in the town of Aga, Daqahlia Governorate, at a school being used as a polling station, two hours before the start of voting in run-offs for the third round of parliamentary elections.
One soldier was taken to hospital after the attack, while the police arrested a man they identified as one of the assailants. Neither police nor the army have given details of the possible motivations of the attackers.
Voter turnout was low in Daqahlia Governorate for the Tuesday run-offs, and some polling stations opened behind schedule due to the late arrival of judges.
Members from the Nour Party were seen putting up posters for their candidates, Ali Qatamesh and Mohamed Ismail, at polling stations in the governorate. Buses displaying Nour Party publicity transported voters to the polling stations.
Members from the Freedom and Justice Party were also seen distributing leaflets bearing the photographs of their candidates and highlighting their positions on the voting cards.
The supervisor of one polling station expelled a campaigner who was directing people to vote for parliamentary candidate Tareq al-Ghafeer.
Assiut Governorate registered even lower turnout than Daqahlia. A court ordered that elections in Assiut’s second and third constituencies be repeated, after it invalidated the results of the vote in the first phase of elections.
Three brothers were killed and another injured in the city of Assiut on Tuesday over a land dispute. Some observers say the violence has contributed to the low voter turnout.
High voter turnout was registered for run-offs in Minya, a fact that some observers are attributing to the contest between a Coptic candidate and another from the Nour Party.
