Egyptians turned out in low numbers yesterday to vote in the first phase of an election hailed by president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as a milestone on the road to democracy but shunned by critics who say the new chamber will rubber -stamp his decisions.

EGYPT went to the polls yesterday.

Here's the good stuff on TV tonight.

Egyptian security forces have stepped up sexual violence since the military overthrew the first freely elected president in 2013, a human rights group alleged.

The prosecution’s evidence in a trial this month of 51 alleged Muslim Brotherhood supporters in Egypt relied on the testimony of one police officer, says Human Rights Watch.

Muslim Brotherhood supporters accused of role in killing 16 police

Former Egyptian army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi won a landslide victory in a presidential election yesterday but a low turnout threatened to deprive him of the strong mandate he needs to fix the economy and face down an Islamist insurgency.

Leinster ‘A’ 44 Leeds Carnegie 17

The Egyptian general who ousted his country’s first freely elected leader declared his candidacy yesterday for a presidential election he is expected to win easily.

Egypt’s army says it is crushing Islamist militants in the Sinai Peninsula, but in the region’s villages and towns a victory for the state feels a long way off.

Egypt’s government resigned, paving the way for army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to declare his candidacy for president of a country gripped by political strife.

Egypt will hold a presidential vote before parliamentary polls, president Adly Mansour said yesterday, in a change to a political roadmap that could pave the way for the swift election of army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Egypt’s former autocrat Hosni Mubarak was flown from jail yesterday in a symbolic victory for an army-dominated old order that has overthrown and imprisoned his freely elected Islamist successor.

Islamist protests descended into a bloodbath across Egypt yesterday, with around 60 killed in Cairo alone on a “Day of Rage” called by followers of ousted president Mohamed Morsi to denounce a crackdown by the army-backed government.