Fifteen months after the ouster of Hosni Mubarak during the Arab Spring uprising, BBC News reported lines began growing at many polling stations shortly after they opened at 8 a.m. local time (2 a.m. ET).
"It's a very big day. This is a real great moment for the Egyptians to change,” a woman waiting to vote in Cairo told the BBC. Another in the line was asked how long she’d been waiting to vote; she laughed and said, "30 years."
The election will determine who will take over from generals who have overseen a transition marred by violence, protests and political deadlock. They were due to formally hand over power by July 1.
Some voters held out hope the change to a democracy would bring profound change.
"We want to live better, like human beings," Ibrahim, a 58-year-old government employee, told the AP.
“Our vote will make Egypt's voice in the Arab world ring loud and clear," Saad Abed Raboh, a civil servant in his mid-50s voting in Alexandria, told Reuters. "For 30 years Egypt's vote was muted, but now it will be heard because Egyptians will choose their president."
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