埃及開始舉行里程碑意義的選舉

Egyptians have begun casting their bAllots in the first parliamentary elections since a popular uprising ended the 30-year rule of former president Hosni Mubarak in rs stood in long lines early Monday, well before polling stations opened. Thousands of Egyptian judges are monitoring the process. The staggered polls to elect parliament's lower house began in the main cities of Cairo and Alexandria, as well as Luxor, Port Said and five other provinces. A runoff for those areas is scheduled for December 5. Egypt's 27 provinces are voting in three separate rounds in a process that concludes in early January. Elections for the upper house will then take place, ending in March, after which the assembly will write a new constitution.

The influential Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist movement officially banned since the 1950s, is poised to win a stronger role in a country effectively run by the military for nearly six decades as an authoritarian secular Egypt's ruling generals have established a convoluted electoral system that many fear will result in a legislature lacking credibility. Army generals have made clear the new assembly would have no right to remove a government appointed by the ruling military council. The head of that body, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, defended the army's privileged status in Egyptian society, declaring Sunday that "the position of the armed forces will remain as it is," even after a new constitution is passed.埃及人開始議會選舉投票。這是二月民衆起義終結前總統穆巴拉克30年統治後的第一次選舉。星期一早上，距離投票站開放還有很長時間，選民就已經排起了長隊。數千名埃及法官正在監督這一過程。以交錯投票方式進行的議會下院選舉在開羅、亞歷山大港這兩座主要城市以及盧克索、塞得港和其它5個省開始。這些地區的決選將於12月5日舉行。埃及27個省的選舉過程分成三輪，將於明年一月初結束。然後將開始議會上院的選舉，並於3月結束。新選舉出的議會之後將制定新憲法。

20世紀50年代以來被官方取締的具有影響力的伊斯蘭運動組織--穆斯林兄弟會將在埃及發揮更大作用。埃及實際上被軍隊以獨裁、政教分離的方式統治了將近 60年。但是埃及執政的將軍們建立了一套有爭議的選舉制度，許多人擔心這個制度會導致建立一個缺乏公信力的立法機構。軍方將領已經明確表示，新議會將無權撤銷執政的軍事委員會任命的政府。軍事委員會主席坦塔維星期天爲軍隊在埃及社會的特權地位辯護。他宣佈，即使新憲法得到通過，“軍隊的位置仍將保持不變”。