EgyptVotes

"Although it is just a voting booth with boards dividing it into four sides, it is capable of enabling the participation of 300,000 disabled people in Assiut in the coming elections."

The appointment of a new governor to Asyut by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) was met with criticism from many political forces in the Upper Egyptian governorate that demanded the governor be elected. Others think competence comes first regardless of a military or civilian background.

Despite hurdles, and in a reversal of their long history of absence from the electoral process, women from the fourth electoral district in the Asyut governorate have come out to vote in large numbers. EgyptVotes’ correspondent surveys the nature and scale of their participation in his coverage of the first day of elections, as he seeks an answer to the question: "How has the revolution impacted women's participation in the electoral process in Upper Egypt?"

Accusations continue to be exchanged among parties whose members include remnants of the former regime, while there is no agreed-upon definition of what constitutes a "remnant" of the dissolved National Democratic Party (NDP). The case is even more complicated with Major General Nour al-Din Abdel Razzaq, the Egyptian Bloc candidate in the third electoral district "Tama-Tahta" in Sohag. While Abdel Razzaq is a newcomer to politics, his family, the Abdel Rahman house, has had a long history of representatives who entered parliament on the ticket of Mubarak's party, most recently Ahmed Galal Abul Dahab in 2010.

Besides the ideological divisions between Islamist candidates versus more secular candidates, the run-off elections in the 3rd district in Sohag between candidates from Tama and Tahta, are starting to be tinged with a tribe-based dimension.

Despite the low turnout that dampened elections in the Dairut region in Asyut, a considerable number of Copts went to polling stations, hoping their vote would have an impact and help independent candidates edge out over the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) candidates.

A relative neglect of women has been the common denominator among all the parties in parliamentary elections. For the most part, the number of female candidates on party lists has not exceeded the legal minimum of one candidate – and usually this one candidate occupies the bottom of the list, leaving her with a slim chance of victory.