Egypt begins second round of parliamentary election

Egyptians vote in the second round of elections Though the voter turnout is expected to be lower thatn the first round, Egyptians nationwide are gearing up for the second round of the parliamentary elections.  The election, held in three stages that will conclude early next year, is the first since former president Hosni Mubarak's ouster and will likely swing Egypt's government in a more Islamist direction. Islamist parties, led by the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), took a majority of the seats contested in the first round, and many expect them to do at least as well in the subsequent rounds.
The Brotherhood faces its stiffest competition from ultraconservative Salafi Muslims, whose Al-Nour bloc won an unexpected 21 per cent of seats in the first round.
The liberal Egyptian Bloc, which took nine per cent of seats in the first round, is looking to increase its share and has vowed to beef up its presence near voting stations to ensure that Islamist parties are not violating the legal ban on campaigning on election days.
Reports of canvassing and campaign leaflets being handed out outside polling booths were rife during the first round of the elctions, which included capital Cairo. Problems such as delays in the delivery of ballots, electoral supervisors arriving late and massive queues were cumbersome but did little to stop the mostly universal intenrational praise heaped on the elections.
The election commission has said that this time it will monitor polling stations for violations.
Islamist parties are expected to maintain their leads given the rural and conservative nature of the provinces voting. They are also fervently supported by the countless beneficiaries of their charity work, which has been going on for years. The Brotherhood, for example, was founded in 1928 in the Suez Canal province of Ismailiya, one of the areas voting Wednesday, and has a history of activism there.
The second round, which ends on Tuesday, will decide 180 seats in the 498-seat People's Assembly, the parliament's lower house. The third and final round is scheduled for early January.
While electoral competition has been fierce, it remains unclear what powers the new parliament, expected to be seated in March, will have. Fears that a new "Advisory Board" set up by Egypt's Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) would override the parliament were put to rest earlier in the week when generals from the council stated that the panel was merely formed for consultancy purposes.
Since taking over Egypt's rule from Mubarak, the military has sought to protect and expand its special place in the Egyptian state, saying at one point that it would choose four-fifths of the members of the constitutional committee. It is also trying to protect its budget from oversight by a civilian body.
The parliament in principle is supposed to form a 100-member assembly to write a new constitution. But the SCAF, which has ruled the country since Mubarak's fall, says the parliament will not be representative of all of Egypt, and thus should not have sole power to draft the constitution. Last week, the military appointed a 30-member council to oversee the process.
The Muslim Brotherhood has refused to participate in the council and is pushing for a stronger role for parliament.
 A strong showing by the Brotherhood in the elections could give it a greater popular mandate in its struggle with the military.
 Nearly 19 million voters are eligible to vote in the second round in the provinces of Giza, Bani Sueif, Sohag, Aswan, Suez, Ismailiya, Beheira, Sharqiya and Menoufia.
The considerably weaker upper house of parliament will be elected in three more rounds that will end in March.