Egyptians vote in legislative polls

Egyptians went to the polls today in their most robustly contested parliamentary election in more than 50 years, but no one expected the vote to unseat the long dominant party of President Hosni Mubarak.

Campaigners for democracy see the elections as a test of Mubarak’s promise to open up the political system. Popular confidence in the polls will be shown by the turnout. The ruling National Democratic Party is pushing for a large turnout after the disappointment of September when Mubarak was returned to power in polls in which a mere 23% of the voters took part.