Unexpectedly, large crowds of voters turned out on Monday to cast their votes in Egypt's first parliamentary election since the ousting of President Hosni Mubarak- a ballot that seems to blend vindication of the democratic struggle with uncertainty over the revolution's final outcome. By 9 a.m., voters had formed long and peaceful lines under the watchful eyes of a police and army guard to cast votes in rich and poor neighborhoods across Cairo. In several places, queues stretched as long as a block along the banks of the Nile, and there were similar reports from Alexandria. In Tahrir Square, the epicenter of Egypt's democracy struggle, several thousand protesters maintained their 10-day occupation to press demands for the immediate end to military rule. But that did not seem to dampen the enthusiasm shown by some Egyptians for the vote. At several polling stations around Cairo, voters reported frustrating delays of up to four hours because ballots or voter lists or even the supervising judges had not arrived on time, and a news report said soldiers fired in the air, in one of the capital's slums to disperse an angry crowd trying to reach a polling station.
