The election, the first since a revolt ousted Mubarak on Feb. 11, unfolded without the mayhem many had feared after last week’s riots against army rule in which 42 people were killed.
Gen. Ismail Atman, a ruling army council member, said he had no firm figure, but that turnout would exceed 70 percent of the 17 million Egyptians eligible to vote in the first round that began on Monday. “I hope it will reach more than 80 percent by the end of the day,” he told Al Jazeera television.
The United States and its European allies are watching Egypt’s vote torn between hopes that democracy will take root in the most populous Arab nation and worries that hardliners hostile to Israel and the West will ride to power on the ballot box.
They have faulted the generals for using excessive force on protesters and urged them to give way swiftly to civilian rule.
The well-organized Muslim Brotherhood, banned but semi-tolerated under Mubarak, said its political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), had done well in the voting so far.
“The Brotherhood party hopes to win 30 percent of Parliament,” senior FJP figure Mohamed El-Beltagy told Reuters.
The leader of the ultra-conservative Al-Nour Party, which hopes to siphon votes from the Brotherhood, said organizational failings meant the party had under-performed.
“We were not dispersed across constituencies, nor were we as close as needed to the voter. Other parties with more experience rallied supporters more effectively,” Emad Abdel Ghafour said in Alexandria.
But he told Reuters the party still expected to win up to half of Alexandria’s 24 seats in Parliament and 70 to 75 nationwide out of the assembly’s 498 elected seats.
Abou Elela Mady, head of the moderate Wasat Party, made no predictions, but praised the turnout and said the party would accept the result despite electoral violations.
Soldiers guarded one banner-festooned Cairo voting station, where women in headscarves or Western clothes queued with their families. Judges kept an amiable eye on proceedings.
Hardliners did not instigate the Arab uprisings that have shaken Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria and Yemen, but in the last two months, conservative parties have come out top in parliamentary elections in Morocco and post-revolutionary Tunisia.
If the election process goes smoothly, the new assembly will enjoy a popular legitimacy the generals lack and may assert itself after 30 years.
“Real politics will be in the hands of the Parliament,” said Diaa Rashwan, an Egyptian political analyst.
One general has said Parliament will have no power to remove an army-appointed Cabinet due to run Egypt’s daily affairs until a promised presidential poll heralds civilian rule by July.
The army council assumed Mubarak’s formidable presidential powers when it eased him from office on Feb. 11. Many Egyptians praised the army’s initial role, but some have grown angry at what they see as its attempts to retain its perks and power.
The election is taking place in three regional stages, plus run-off votes, in a complex system that requires voters to choose individual candidates as well as party lists. Full results will be announced after voting ends on Jan. 11.
Election monitors have reported logistical hiccups and campaign violations but no serious violence.
