High turnout of Egyptian voters on second day

A high turnout in Cairo and other big cities was reported during the second day of voting in the first elections since President Hosni Mubarak was brought down.

The elections have remained peaceful so far although many protesters occupying Cairo’s Tahrir Square decided to boycott the vote.

Some protesters did vote but still feared that the military wanted to retain power while leaving parliament with limited powers.

It was feared that the deadly protests against the provisional military rulers would delay the vote.

Since the beginning of the protests, more than 2,000 protesters were wounded while at least 41 have been killed.

However, optimism appears to have become widespread during the voting process as the Egyptian stock market rose on Tuesday.

The head of the High Judicial Elections Commission (HJEC) Abdel Moez Ibrahim said that because delays occurred when opening polling booths this morning, voting would be extended until the very last voter cast their vote.

Out of a population exceeding 85 million, around 50 million people are eligible to vote for candidates from 50 registered political parties.  

The delay was allegedly caused in some constituencies on the first day because of the late arrival of ballot papers, a shortage of ink and an insufficient number of administrative officers.

Although the final members of lower and upper house of parliament will remain unclear until March but official results from the first voting phase should be released tomorrow.