The Egyptian parliamentary election kicked off Sunday morning as voters go to polls nationwide to select a new People's Assembly (the lower house of parliament).

Polling stations opened at 8:00 a.m. local time (0600 GMT) and will stay open until 7:00 p.m. (1700 GMT), but the deadline could possibly be extended for late voters.

Egyptian will cast votes in 254 constituencies, including 32 particularly for women. There are 41 million eligible voters in the most populous Arab state, but the turnout is likely to be low as usual. The first results are expected on Monday.

Around 5,039 candidates, including 378 women will compete, for 508 seats in the People's Assembly, including 64 seats allocated specifically to women MPs. The rest members will be appointed by the President.

The legislative elections comes amid uncertain political circumstances in Egypt with its presidential elections due next year.

The ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), which has dominated Egyptian politics for decades, is fielding 763 candidates in the election and expected to continue its solid majority of the assembly.

While the Muslim Brotherhood, the largest opposition bloc, has said it does not expect to repeat its performance in the last election in 2005 when it won a fifth of the assembly's seats. The Egyptian government has repeatedly promised the elections will proceed under free and fair atmosphere. Up to 6,000 members of 76 civil society organizations are observing the elections which will be covered by the Egyptian and foreign media.

Security forces are on high alert, with tens of thousands of police deployed across the country in anticipation of violence.

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