Egypt's presidential polling ends for the first day

 　　CAIRO, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Egypt closed its polling stations on Wednesday evening for the first day of the two-day presidential election with great turnout.

　　The Supreme¹ Presidential Election Commission decided² earlier in the day to close the polling stations at 9 p.m. local time (GMT 1900), an hour later than scheduled, to allow more citizens who queued outside the stations to vote.

　　Thousands of people, with excitement and enthusiasm, flocked to polling stations across Egypt which opened at 8:00 a.m. (GMT 0600) to cast their votes in the first presidential election since the fall of former president Hosni Mubarak in February 2011.

　　Counting will start immediately after Thursday's vote, according to the official MENA news agency.

　　"The electoral process in first day finished in an organized and peaceful way under the full supervision³ of the judges," MENA quoted sources from the election committee as saying.

　　To ensure the transparency and fairness of the elections, 14, 500 judges and 65,000 public servants were deployed⁴ nationwide to monitor the process. Three foreign civil society organizations and 49 local ones were allowed to observe the event. Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter is also in Egypt to monitor the election with his Carter Center.

　　There are about 50 million eligible⁵ voters, who will elect one president from 12 candidates. Top hopefuls include former Arab League chief Amr Moussa, Islamist Aboul Fotouh, Freedom and Justice Party chairman Mohamed Morsi, former prime minister Ahmed Shafiq and left-wing Nasserist Hamdeen Sabahy.

1 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 supervision   

n.监督，管理

参考例句：

• The work was done under my supervision.这项工作是在我的监督之下完成的。
• The old man's will was executed under the personal supervision of the lawyer.老人的遗嘱是在律师的亲自监督下执行的。

4 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

5 eligible   

adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的

参考例句：

• He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
• Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。