Polling stations in 14 Egyptian governorates closed their doors at 9pm on Sunday after voters finished casting their ballots on the second day of voting in the first stage of the House of Representatives elections.

The vote counting process, which is being supervised by members of the judiciary, is set to conclude early on Monday. Some TV channels have begun to broadcast the counting process in some polling stations.

The first stage of run-offs will be held on 21-23 November for Egyptians abroad, and on 23-24 November inside the country. The final results will be declared on 30 November at the latest.

The National Elections Authority (NEA) said that no complaints or obstacles were reported on the second day of voting.

The State Information Service (SIS) said that the turnout on the second day increased gradually throughout the day, and that the turnout was noticeably high in rural areas in some governorates, especially in Upper Egypt.

There was also a high turnout for senior citizens and women.

The governorates included in the voting were Giza, Fayoum, Beni Suef, Minya, Assiut, El-Wadi El-Gedid, Sohag, Qena, Luxor, Aswan, Red Sea, Alexandria, Beheira and Matrouh.

There are currently a number of Egyptian and foreign NGOs participating in this stage of the elections, including a mission of international observers comprising eight NGOs from European and African countries, the SIS said.

The total number of eligible voters in Egypt is 63 million, out of a population of 100 million. The eligible voters in the first stage are estimated to be nearly 33 million.

Almost 4,000 individual candidates and eight coalition lists are competing over 568 seats in this election. Half the seats will be filled through the individual candidacy system and the rest through party lists.

A total of 284 seats are up for grabs in the first stage, with half – 142 seats – allocated for individual candidates, and the other half for party lists.

The first round for the second phase of the elections will be held on 7-8 November, and their run-offs will be held on 7-8 December.