CAIRO, November 9, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Egypt's opposition parties and monitoring groups reported electoral violations and intimidation of voters in the first phase of parliamentary elections on Wednesday, November 9.

"There is fraud everywhere, no transparency, no freedom," Mohammed Mehdi Akef, Guide General of the Muslim Brotherhood, told reporters after casting his ballot.

Akef accused President Hosni Mubarak's regime and his ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) of orchestrating widespread fraud in the Wednesday's polls.

"The regime is determined to continue on the path of corruption," added Akef, whose movement emerged as the main opposition group during the campaign.

"It (NDP) is using dirty fraudulent methods."

Egyptian voters in eight of Egypt's governorates cast ballot Wednesday in the first round of an almost month-long three-part parliamentary polls.

This first round of elections involves a total of 1,635 candidates vying for 164 of the People's Assembly's 444 seats that are up for grabs.

Cairo, Giza, Menoufiya, Beni Sueif, Menya, Assiut, New Valley and Mersa Matrouh are the governorates that witness voting.

Election officials reported a turnout of 12 to 15 percent of registered voters by the early evening.

Turnout at the end of the 2000 elections ranged between 14 and 40 percent.

This year's polls acquire a special importance as they could decide who can run to be president of the Arab world's most populous nation at any time up to 2010.

Opposition parties need at least 23 of the 444 elected seats in the lower house to retain the right to field a presidential candidate during the next parliament's term.

A voter dips her finger in an indelible red ink. (Reuters)

Independent monitors listed irregularities ranging from vote-buying, absence of indelible ink to the poor state of the electoral registers.

"The violations, ranging from busing voters by the state-owned vehicles, absence of indelible ink in polling stations, handing out the voting cards before the voting process, vote-buying and poor electoral registers, were made for the ruling National Democratic Party," monitoring group Sawasya said in a statement, a copy of which was obtained by IslamOnline.net.

Citing an example of electoral abuses, the group said that some 150 women cast ballots in a Cairo constituency and left the polling station without indelible ink on their fingers.

In Bab Al-Shariya district, Ayman Nour's Ghad Party also complained of vote-buying, saying that NDP candidates paid LE 50-100 bribe for voters to vote for their side.

Opposition groups and monitors also reported incidents of intimidation and intervention of NDP thugs to prevent opposition supporters from entering polling stations, Reuters reported.

"This is not democracy. Thugs intimidated me with knives. Only when security forces came much later was I able to go inside," said Karim Mahmoud in the south Cairo suburb of Maadi.

Wael Omar, a cameraman for the monitoring group Shayfeenkum (We are watching you), said a fight broke out at a polling station in the Turah area.

"I was filming (the fight) when an NDP-backed thug punched me in the mouth, insulted me and told me to leave. Security people just stood by," he told Reuters.

Many voters and opposition candidates also complained of failing to find their names in the electoral lists.

"I failed to find the name of my younger brother. Instead, I found the name of late brother who died 20 years ago," Tarek Kamal in a Cairo constituency told IOL.

Opposition candidates also complained that the electoral lists contained names of those living abroad.

"Names of dead people and others living abroad were not cleared off from the voter lists in the Cairo constituencies of Dokki and Agoza," Muslim Brotherhood member Seif Al-Islam Al-Banna, told IOL.

Some voters, however, reported an improvement in the political climate during the voting process.

"I feel that there has been change. In previous elections, I used to be asked a lot of questions (by police) but so far in these elections, no one has approached me. I hope that this margin of freedom is real," said Mohamed Youssef, a professor of medicine who voted in the Cairo suburb of Mohandiseen.

Fatma Zahra, a hijab-clad woman, agreed.

"The last time I came to vote, they didn't want to let me in and we stood for hours. This year we are seeing a lot of change," she said.

The overall level of violence was much lower than in the 2000 elections, when 10 people were killed.