In Pictures: Voting in the Nile Delta

Navy officers stand guard at a polling station where a woman waits to vote - underneath a sign forbidding weapons from being taken inside.

A young boy stands among women waiting to vote.

Voting officials enjoy a brief pause on the busy first day of voting in Alexandria.

A officer of the navy allows a few women to enter at a time.

In order to prevent voter fraud, people must dip a finger in purple dye after casting their ballot.

Men waiting in line in the coastal city of Alexandria.

Many schools were used as polling stations for the elections, such as this one in Alexandria.

The election ballot, featuring all 13 presidential candidates.

Men cast their vote at a classroom in Alexandria.

A voter and his daughter check a list posted outside an Alexandria school find out where exactly to vote.

A judge in Tanta, 50 miles north of Cairo, helps a woman register before casting her ballot.

A young mother in Tanta casts her ballot.

Lawahaz Ibrahim, a 73-year-old from Tanta (centre) said it was important that whoever come to power focused on the poor. "Sometimes I can(***)t find anything to eat," she said.

A military police officer stands in front of a line of women waiting to vote in Tanta.

A woman stands in front of Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh campaign posters, while waiting for her husband outside a polling station in Tanta.

An elderly woman dyes her finger after casting her ballot for the first time.

A police officer stands at the exit of a polling station in the Tel el-Haddadin ("Hill of Blacksmiths") area of Tanta

A man casts his ballot at a polling station in Alexandria.

Women wait in lines at a polling station on the first day of voting in Alexandria. Asked how they felt, they shouted: "We are free!"