Cairo: The son of an independent candidate in Egypt's parliamentary election was stabbed to death on the eve of the vote as he was putting up posters of his father in Cairo, relatives and a medic said on Sunday.

Two men attacked Omar Syed Syed, 24, on Saturday night in the Matariya district of the capital and stabbed him to death, family members said.

A security official said police had arrested both attackers who had confessed to killing Syed.

He insisted they had committed the murder because Syed was flirting with the sister of one of them.

But the relatives of the dead man denied this, saying the attack was politically motivated and that it occurred while Syed was putting up posters.

Syed's father, Syed Syed Mohammad, is an independent candidate in Sunday's parliamentary poll.