Polling stations in 14 governorates opened at 9am on Wednesday for the final day in Egypt’s Senate elections run-offs amid strict preventative measures against coronavirus, with 52 candidates competing for 26 seats.

The contested seats are in 14 governorates: Qalioubiya, Menoufiya, Kafr El-Sheikh, Giza, Beni Suef, Assiut, Sohag, Qena, Luxor, Aswan, Damietta, Port Said, Ismailia and Marsa Matrouh.

Vote counting will start after polls close at 9pm.

The 52 candidates who are competing in the run-offs include 24 affiliated with pro-government Mostaqbal Watan; four with the Islamist Nour Party; three with the Guardians of the Nation Party; two with the People's Republican Party; one with the Congress Party; one with the National Movement Party; and one with the Ittihad Party, according to the National Elections Authority (NEA).

Some 174 candidates representing different constituencies countrywide won seats in the 300-member body in August after they secured an outright majority in the polling.

During the first round of voting the pro-government coalition "National Unified List", which is led by the Mostaqbal Watan Party (Future of Homeland), secured 118 (around 60 percent) out of the 200 contested seats.

The National Election Authority (NEA) announced Mostaqbal Watan won 68 individual seats and 50 party list seats.

The Senate, which was created in accordance with constitutional amendments approved last year, will act as an advisory chamber to the House of Representatives. It will sit in place of the Shura Council, the upper house of parliament that was dissolved in 2014.

Two-thirds of the members are elected via the individual candidacy and the closed party list systems, and the rest will be appointed by the president.

Egyptian expats voted abroad on Sunday and Monday.

The first session of the new body, where senators are required to be sworn in, is set to be held in October. The first five-year term of the Senate will end in 2025.

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