Egypt's army leader urges big election turnout

CAIRO: Egypt's army ruler on Sunday urged voters to turn out in force in the country's first post-revolution election that has been clouded by violence, demonstrations and a standoff with civilian leaders.

Egyptians go to the polls on Monday to cast their first votes for a new parliament after the end of the 30-year rule of strongman Hosni Mubarak, forced from power in February in one of the seminal moments of the Arab Spring.

The run-up to voting in the cultural heart of the Arab world and region's most populous country has been marred by fears of chaos as the army, pro-democracy protesters and new political leaders fight for influence.

Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, who heads a council of generals who took power after Mubarak's fall, called for a large turn-out and said he would not buckle in the face of demands for the army to stand down.

"I ask the Egyptian people to vote and to express themselves in order to have a balanced parliament that represents all sides," he said in a statement that also called for support for a new caretaker premier appointed last week.

Tantawi warned, however, that "we are faced with enormous challenges and we will not allow any individual or party to pressure the armed forces," adding that Egypt stood at "a crossroads."

"Either succeed politically, economically and socially or face very dangerous consequences... and we will not let that happen," he said, according to the official MENA news agency.

Demonstrators have again occupied Cairo's Tahrir Square, epicentre of the mass protests that drove Mubarak from power, but this time their target is Tantawi and his fellow generals.

Thousands gathered for a "million-man" rally called on Sunday to demand the end of military rule, though attendance was low by previous standards, partly because of rain that began in mid-afternoon.

Feeding the anger of those assembled in Tahrir, many of whom carried visible injuries from last week's unrest, was the death of an unarmed 19-year-old demonstrator on Saturday who was crushed by a police truck.

The demonstrators fear that Egypt's temporary military rulers are looking to consolidate their influence and are too quick to resort to Mubarak-era tactics of violence and repression when faced with opposition.

The decision by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) to appoint Kamal al-Ganzuri, a 78-year-old former Mubarak-era politician, as caretaker prime minister last week has fanned the flames of popular anger.

The generals have also pushed back the original timetable for transferring power to a civilian government and demanded a final say on all legislation concerning the army in the future.

Outside Tahrir, the political leaders expected to shape the democratic future of the country of more than 80 million people are locked in a fight for influence. (AFP)