Cairo:  Islamists and liberals made accusations of abuses during the second round of Egypt's first post-Hosni Mubarak parliamentary elections as voters cast ballots yesterday in mostly rural parts of the country.

Most of the reports accused election officials at a number of polling stations of filling out ballot forms for elderly or confused voters. If confirmed as a pattern, the reports could chip away at the credibility of what has so far been modern Egypt's most free and fair vote.

In response, judges stationed at polling centres said the election law permits them to provide help to voters who need it. And the head of the election commission called accusations of irregularities "rumours and lies."

Two alliances led by Islamists won close to 70 per cent of seats in the first round on November 28-29, according to an AP tally compiled from official results. The secular and liberal forces that largely drove Egypt's uprising against Mubarak were trounced, failing to turn their achievement into a victory at the polls.

The second round of voting, which took place Wednesday and yesterday in nine provinces, and a third round to be held in early January are not expected to dramatically alter the result and could even strengthen the Islamists' hand. Rural areas in Egypt are traditionally more conservative, and some are Islamist strongholds.

The Muslim Brotherhood's political arm, which is leading the polls, and an alliance of liberal youth parties have filed complaints, saying officials at several stations were "dictating to voters whom to vote for."

The Islamist group issued a report yesterday accusing judges in the province of Beheira, 180 kilometres north of Cairo, of guiding voters to select candidates from the ultra-conservative Salafi Muslim party called Al Nour, the Brotherhood's key Islamist rival, which is in second place in results so far.

In another polling centre, two judges, a school administrator and a village mayor filled in ballots for candidates who were members of Mubarak's dissolved National Democratic party and are now running as independents or members of new parties.

Election commission chairman Abdul Moez Ebrahim denounced the accusations as "rumours and lies," and added that officials at polling stations were there "to serve their country."

Judge Ahmad Hilal, who was monitoring the voting at a polling station in Shabein Al Kom in the province of Menoufia, 60 kilometres north of Cairo, said it was his legal duty to assist people who cannot mark ballots on their own. According to an official Cabinet report in June, illiteracy in Egypt is nearly 27 per cent of the country's 85 million people.

"It's the law that we have to help the voter to vote in case they are incapable or cannot see," he said. "We tell them what's on the ballot and they tell us how they want to vote."

A day earlier, the Freedom and Justice Party said officials in several populous districts of Giza, Cairo's twin city, "forced female voters to vote for [Brotherhood] competitors."