Voter turnout was weak during the first of two days of voting in Tanta, capital of the Nile Delta's Gharbiya Governorate. On Tuesday, few voters could be seen entering polling stations, which had been set up in schools. The few queues noticeable outside these polling stations were short.
In fact, the voter turnout rate seemed to be nearly the same as during the Mubarak-era elections of late 2010 held in the city.
Campaign posters and banners — particularly those belonging to the Salafi-oriented Nour Party, and to a lesser extent, the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) — were ubiquitous. In violation of electoral rules, numerous bearded men could be seen campaigning for these two parties near polling stations.
However, other campaigners committed similar violations. Campaigners for the independent candidates Mohamed al-Fiqqi and Nasser Sweilam distributed campaign literature near Sayyed Aisha School. One of Fiqqi's campaigners said: "Salafis are very strong and well-mobilized here. The Nour Party has also been transporting their voters en masse in buses and micro-buses."
An FJP campaigner standing nearby Tanta Secondary School for Girls distributed his party's yellow campaign cards bearing the electoral sign of the scale. Meanwhile, a group of FJP youth stood outside the Omar Ibn al-Khattab School.
"We're standing here to make sure that nobody is campaigning outside the schools; neither us nor others," one of the youths said. “We've seen a few cases of campaigning outside schools, and asked the campaigners to refrain from distributing their cards."
Another FJP youth added: "Another violation reported is that a number of schools opened their gates to voters behind schedule." This youth campaigner could not, however, mention the cause behind the delays, nor the names of the schools which opened-up late.
While inputting national ID numbers and directing voters to their polling booths, a young female FJP campaigner sat with her laptop on a small table a block away from the Sayyed Aisha School.
"Voting has been smooth today,” she said.
“We haven't noticed any serious violations such as thuggery or bribery, which were common during previous elections. However, I have noticed that tens of voters are not present on voter lists. I tried inputting numerous ID numbers into the electoral database only to find that they were not registered. I could not find their voter codes, schools, or the numbers of their polling booths." This veiled FJP activist argued that this was the fault of the High Elections Committee.
Near the Omar al-Khattab School, a small group of children could be seen systematically tearing-down the posters belonging to the liberal Wafd Party candidate Hussein Khalil.
Among the most notable figures running in Tanta's parliamentary elections is Sheikh Sayyed Askar, a cleric running for the FJP who was defeated in the 2010 elections.
Another prominent candidate is Yasser al-Gindi, a former member of Mubarak's National Democratic Party who was voted into parliament during the 2010 elections. Gindi is now a member of the recently established Freedom Party.
Local businessman Ibrahim Awara, who has the resources to fund his own campaign, is also a prominent candidate.
A total of 519 candidates and 14 parties/coalitions are competing for the Gharbiya Governorate's 30 parliamentary seats.
