Egypt's uneasy transition - from police state to state of law

It is the second day of voting in Domyat and the last remaining voters are arriving before polls close at 7pm. The military leadership have said polling stations may remain open later if there are still queues, but at Maddraset Al Fania Al Tegaria Al Moushtariaka there are only two more voters waiting.

Last night we came to the same polling station and were invited by the judge to observe the process at close quarters. We have no official credentials and our presence is at the judge's discretion. Not all judges have been so welcoming but Judge Mohamed Attia is pleased to receive international election witnesses. He offers a cup of tea and explains the procedure. Each voter must show their identity card in order to be marked off on the register. They are then given the ballot papers, one for the party list and one for the individual candidates. The ballot papers are signed by the judge before the voter takes them behind a screen to mark their vote. There are two ballot boxes, one for each of the two part voting system. After casting their ballot the voter's finger tip is marked with blue ink.

The choice is bewildering. There are fifteen political parties in the party list and 48 individual candidates. To assist those who can't read the Arabic script each party and each individual candidate have been assigned one of an ideosyncratic collection of symbols that include a tank, a gun, a tennis racket, a key and a bust of the Egyptian goddess Nefertiti. I can't read Arabic but I prefer Nefertiti to the gun and the tank. One voter told us she chose to vote for the flower symbol because she liked it more than the others.

While we are watching the voting process with the judge, our Egyptian colleague, Mohamed, who has been facilitating the mission, is outside the voting room. Unbeknown to us, he is being harrassed by a police officer, who is asking what are we doing here and claiming we have no right to be present. By the time we come to leave, the police officer has backed off, but Mohamed is very tense and tells us later he feared we might have been arrested as spies and taken to a police cell - not a good place to be in Egypt.

When we return the following day, Mohamed goes in ahead. The same police officer is there and asks him about the "foreigners". We wait for the police officer to leave, before we enter the polling station. The soldiers guarding the gate welcome us into the courtyard and we rejoin the judge in the voting room. We watch as the last votes are cast and the ballot boxes sealed with cotton tape, red sealing wax and the judge's seal.

It is an emotive ritual for all present as the voting closes on Egypt's first democratic elections.