Egypt continues voting

The decision by the election commission came hours before polls were due to close on Tuesday, after reports of meager numbers at polling stations. Electoral commission chief Abdel Aziz Salman put the turnout at the end of the second day at about 37 per cent of the 53 million electorate, Egypt's official news agency MENA reported.

That is well below the almost 52 per cent who voted in the 2012 election won by Islamist Mohammed Morsi, who was ousted by the military in July last year following mass protests against his rule.

Contesting the poll are ex-army chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who led the coup against Morsi and is widely expected to win, and leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahi.

Sabahi has slammed the ballot extension, saying it raised "questions...about the integrity of the process." He said it came after pressure "to intervene in the numbers and percentages voting in the elections."

The electoral commission said a daytime heatwave resulted in many voters crowding ballot stations in the evening, resulting in the need for more time.

El-Sissi's campaign also complained about the extension.

"We had hoped the commission would extend voting each day after 9.00 p.m. because it is very hot," said el-Sissi's spokeswoman, Mona el-Kouedi.

"But we think an extra day would make voters exert more, and also the judges (overseeing the vote) would tire."

Others say the extension is unnecessary because most expect the same outcome.

"When the result of an election is already known, there is very little incentive for voters to come out and vote," said Gamal Abel Gawad, an analyst at the American University of Cairo.

The military and police have been heavily deployed to secure polling stations during the vote following months of violence, which the military-backed government has blamed on Morsi's now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

Polling stations are due to close at 9.00 p.m. local time (1800 UTC) on Wednesday, with results due on June 5.

Muslim Brotherhood boycotts

The Muslim Brotherhood has boycotted the polls and said it would not recognize the outcome. The group has been subjected to a harsh crackdown since Morsi's ouster that has killed hundreds of its supporters.

Also refusing to take part are key activists of the 2011 uprising that ousted long-time strongman Hosni Mubarak. They are worried that another era of autocratic rule will be ushered in if el-Sissi takes power.

jr/av (AFP, Reuters, dpa)