CAIRO, Oct. 27 (Aswat Masriya) - Run-offs of phase one of Egypt's House of Representatives elections saw a low turnout in most provinces inside Egypt Tuesday, and abroad where voting started on Monday.

The scant showing at the polls was no surprise with the turnout barely exceeding 26 percent inside Egypt and 4.5  percent abroad across 14 provinces where over 27.4 Egyptians are eligible to vote.

With only four candidates contesting single-candidate constituency seats winning an outright majority in round one, the run-offs will see polling in all but four constituencies where 418 candidates will compete over 209 seats.

All 60 seats allocated to the party list system were snapped up by the For the Love of Egypt coalition headed by ex-military general Sameh Seif Elyazal in what seems be a prelude to a sweeping victory in phase two.

Ayman Abbas, head of the Supreme Electoral Committee (SEC) said voting process went smooth on Tuesday.

According to Aswat Masriya sources, turnout at most of the polling stations in Matrouh, Alexandria, Beheira and Aswan provinces was relatively low, while in Assiut there appeared to be more numbers boosted by Coptic voters. In Minya more voters showed up in villages than in its cities. 

Egyptian ambassadors noted "weak" participation among voters abroad. They attributed the low turnout to the working hours and bad weather conditions in some of the countries. 

The first phase covers 14 provinces including Giza, Fayoum, Beni Suef, Minya, Assiut, New Valley, Sohag, Qena, Luxor, Aswan, Red Sea, Alexandria, Beheira and Matrouh.

The second phase of the elections (Nov. 21-23) will cover 13 provinces including Cairo with 27.5 million eligible voters, of which 6.8 million are in Cairo alone.