THE SECOND ROUND of voting for Egypt’s lower parliament is underway.
One of the political parties who dominated the first round of voting, the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Freedom and Justice party, is also expected to gain support in this latest round.
The second round of voting continues until Tuesday and will decide 180 seats of Egypt’s lower house. The election process won’t be completed until the third round of voting is held next month. Another three rounds of voting will then follow in early 2012 to elect the country’s upper house.
Voting so far has been largely peaceful, with no major irregularities reported.
Al Jazeera’s correspondent Rawya Rageh reports that although people lined up to cast their vote today, the turnout doesn’t appear as strong as for the first round.
The new parliament – the first to be elected since Hosni Mubarak was forced from power in February by a popular uprising – is expected to draft a new constitution for the country. However, the ruling military contends that the parliament should not have complete authority in creating the constitution and has appointed a 30-person council to oversee the drafting.
The Muslim Brotherhood, which refused to back recent violent protests against the ruling military, has refused to engage with this military council and is calling for the parliament to have a stronger role.
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