Cairo: Voting began on Monday in Egypt's first parliamentary elections since longtime authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak was ousted in a popular uprising nine months ago. The vote is a milestone many Egyptians hope will usher in a democratic age after decades of dictatorship.
But the ballot has already has been marred by turmoil in the streets, and the population is sharply polarised and confused over the nation's direction.
Still, the vote promises to be the fairest and cleanest election in Egypt in living memory. The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest and best organized group, along with its Islamist allies are expected to do well in the vote.
Voters stood in long lines outside some polling centers in Cairo well before they opened at 8 am local time, a rare sign of interest in political participation after decades of apathy created by the mass rigging of every vote.
"I am voting for freedom. We lived in slavery. Now we want justice in freedom," said 50-year-old Iris Nawar as she was about to vote in the district of Maadi, a Cairo suburb.
"We are afraid of the Muslim Brotherhood. But we lived for 30 years under Mubarak, we will live with them too," said Nawar, a fist-time voter.
In the upscale neighborhood of Zamalek, some 500 voters waited in line outside a polling station at a school. Shahira Ahmed, 45, was there with her husband and daughter. Like Nawar, Ahmed had never cast a ballot before.
"I never voted because I was never sure it was for real. This time, I hope it is, but I am not positive. The most important thing is to have a liberal and a civilised country, I mean no fanatics," she said, alluding to the Islamists, who hope their domination of the next parliament will bring them closer to realizing their dream of creating an Islamic Egypt.
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