Egyptians started on Wednesday to cast their ballots in the second round of post-revolution poll.

Egyptians started on Wednesday to cast their ballots in the second round of post-revolution poll.

Small queues began to form outside schools where polling stations opened at 8:00 AM (0600 GMT) and will take place over two days.

The second round takes place in nine regions: Cairo's twin city of Giza; Beni Sueif south of the capital; the Nile Delta provinces of Menufiya, Sharqiya and Beheira; the canal cities of Ismailiya and Suez and the southern cities Sohag and Aswan.

The first round earlier this month was dominated by Islamic parties, with the party of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party claiming around 47% of seats.

Wednesday’s elections are the first since former President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February.

After the voting for the lower house of parliament, which will end in January, Egyptians will then elect an upper house in a further three rounds of polls.
The aim is to elect a parliament which will then appoint a committee to draft a new constitution for the post-revolution era.

Voting has been staggered over three months to allow each round to be carefully supervised by the judiciary.  The country will then witness presidential elections in July.

Following Mubarak’s ouster, the military took over the running of the country but it has been accused in recent months of trying to slow down the transition to civilian rule and safeguard its own interests.

Protesters have again taken to the streets and last month saw further deadly clashes with demonstrators angry at the slow pace of reform.