Long lines at polls as Egypt holds landmark vote

[jaxx]

Long lines at polls as Egypt holds landmark vote
Nov 28, 7:28 AM (ET)
By SARAH EL DEEB and BEN HUBBARD

CAIRO (AP) - Shaking off years of political apathy, Egyptians turned out in long lines at voting stations Monday in their nation's first parliamentary elections since Hosni Mubarak's ouster, a giant step toward what they hope will be a democracy after decades of dictatorship.

The vote promises to be the fairest and cleanest election in Egypt in living memory, but it takes place amid sharp polarization among Egyptians and confusion over the nation's direction. On one level, the election is a competition between Islamic parties who want to take Egypt in a direction toward religious rule and more liberal groups that want a separation between religion and politics.

The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest and best organized group, along with other Islamists are expected to do well in the vote.

<..> The election is burdened with a long and unwieldy process. It stretched over multiple stages, with different provinces taking their turn to vote with each round. Each round lasts two days. Voting for 498-seat People's Assembly, parliament's lower chamber, will last until January, then elections for the 390-member upper house will drag on until March.

http://apnews.excite.com/article/2011112...NSQ81.html

Long process to get all the voting done in Egypt. But it looks like the people are coming out and will vote for democracy.