Millions of Egyptians are due to vote on Sunday for their next Parliament.
Polling stations are meant to open at 8am (0600 GMT) and close at 7pm (1700 GMT), after which ballot counting will begin. A run-off is scheduled to be held a week later.
About 30-million Egyptians, out of a population of 80-million, are eligible to vote, but turnout for the election is expected to be much lower.
There are 508 seats being contested, 64 more than in the outgoing Parliament after additional seats were set aside for female candidates. Ten further lawmakers are appointed by the president.
More than 5 000 candidates have registered for the vote, which will take place across 254 electoral districts. The ruling National Democratic Party, which dominates Parliament, is fielding more than 800 candidates.
The Muslim Brotherhood, the largest opposition movement, is running 130 candidates after the committee tasked with overseeing the election disqualified more than a dozen of its candidates.
The Islamist group fields independent candidates in elections to circumvent a ban on religious parties.
Crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood
The run-up to the vote has seen a widescale crackdown on the group, with more than 1 000 of its supporters arrested. Its candidates have often faced restrictions when campaigning.
The last parliamentary poll, held in 2005 over three rounds, saw the Brotherhood win a fifth of the seats up for grabs.
It was marked by widespread clashes and police intervention to close polling stations. More than a dozen people died in the fighting.
Rights groups say a free election on Sunday is highly unlikely given the sweeping arrests and restrictions on opposition campaigning, and the NDP is widely expected to retain its control on Parliament.
The government said the election would be fair, and the Higher Elections Committee — comprised of 11 members, seven of them nominated by the legislature — would oversee the vote and certify the results.
Ballot counting will be monitored by candidate representatives and civil society groups who receive permission to send observers. Human Rights Watch said the government has repeatedly rejected calls to allow international observers.
The media has also been promised access to the polling stations.
Egypt’s current political system
A presidential system, with the president serving unlimited six-year terms.
In May 2005, constitutional reforms led to the first ever multi-party elections. Four months later Mubarak was re-elected for a fifth term.
Egypt has a bicameral legislature overwhelmingly dominated by the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP).
The People’s Assembly (Magles al-Shaab), which currently has 444 elected members and 10 appointed by the president, is responsible for passing laws and supervising the government.
Members are elected every five years in popular ballots rights groups say are consistently marked by fraud and intimidation in favour of government candidates. — Sapa-AFP