Here's a summary of today's events.

• Polling stations have been ordered to open for two more hours to cope with a higher than expected turnout in the country's first elections since the fall of Hosni Mubarak. A call to boycott the poll was widely ignored as voters queued for hours to cast their vote.

• There were numerous reports of problems at the polling stations and allegations of voting violations. The electoral authorities received hundreds of complaints amid reports of vote buying in some areas. The main problems appeared to be delays in the delivery of ballot papers to some polling stations and the late arrival of judges appointed to oversee the ballot. A rule against campaigning on election day was widely flouted.

• Despite the chaotic scenes at some polling stations, the first day of voting passed off better than many expected after concerns about a lack of preparation and widespread calls to postpone the ballot. Islamist parties are expected to do well.

• A civil court has extended the detention of activist and blogger Alaa Abd El Fattah for another 15 days. It was the first time his case had been considered by a civil court.

• A commission for UN's Human Rights Council has accused Syria of committing "gross violations of human rights" during its crackdown against protests. It said found that 256 children had been killed by government forces.

• Syria's foreign minister Walid al-Muallem has described the Arab League's sanctions against his country as "declaration of economic war". He told a news conference "The Arabs don't want to admit the presence in Syria of groups of armed terrorists who are committing these crimes, abductions and attacks on public places."

Bahrain

• A civilian court has postponed a ruling on the appeal of two protesters sentenced to death by a security court during a wave of anti-government protests earlier this year. Meanwhile, the retrial has resumed for doctors and other medical professionals who were given long prison sentences after treating protesters.

United Arab Emirates

• Five activists who were convicted a day for insulting UAE leaders have been pardoned. Human rights groups said last week that the five activists had been the target of what they described as a campaign of death threats, slander and intimidation.

A new video from the Mosireen YouTube channel underlines that the ruling military council still has significant support.

It features a man explaining why he planned to take part in a rally to demonstrate support for the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces last week.

Here's what he said according to a translation by my colleague Mona Mahmood.

I will go to Abbassiyia to say that the army should only leave power after it hands over power to a civil government. The country will be lost if the army leaves now, looters will be in charge. I do not know why [Field Marshall] Tantawi is installing a former prime minister like Kamal Ganzouri again. He was one of Mubarak's men and he was silent about the corruption in time of Mubarak. Ganzouri caused much damage to to Egyptians with his privatisation plan. People were left in the streets because of him.

The activist and blogger Alaa Abd El Fattah has been tried by a civil court for the first time but his detention has again been extended.

Al-Masry al-Youm reports that his case was switched to the Emergency Supreme State Security Court after protests from human rights groups.

Abd El Fattah was taken into military custody last month following public criticisms of the army's conduct on the night of 9 October, when at least 27 people were killed during a Coptic Christian protest Cairo.

The polls were due to close in two hours time at 7pm Cairo time, but that's been extended to 9pm.

CNN's Ben Wedeman tweets:

Voting extended by two hours to 9 PM tonight because of large turnout. Then resumes Tuesday 8 AM. #Egypt

Turnout was much higher than expected according to Abdel Moez Ibrahim, head of the Supreme Election Commission, AFP reports.

"We were surprised that people turned out to vote in large numbers, thank God. It was higher than expected," it quoted him saying.

Complaints about the conduct of the poll are building up. The Egypt Centre for Human Rights said it has received 391 complaints.

It a statement it said:

Despite the security presence at polling stations, a large number of candidates belonging to the Freedom Party and the Freedom and Justice Party, as well as some independents, have engaged in illegal electoral activities directly outside polling stations. Some have also been offering financial incentives to voters.

The Supreme Electoral Commission has had more than 70 complaints, according to Ahram online.

Islamist parties appear to be mobilising their vote better than liberal and leftist campaigners, Jack Shenker reports from eastern Cairo.

I've just returned from Duweiqa, an informal neighbourhood on the eastern outskirts of Cairo which is one of the poorest districts in the country and the site of a deadly rockslide back in 2008 which left hundreds dead and became a symbol of institutionalised corruption and poverty under the Mubarak regime. As in other parts of the city, turnout at the polling stations is very high. The Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists - both of whom have long had local welfare programmes in the area, providing help and support when the state was absent - are out in force, but there is no sign of a single liberal or leftist campaigner. Most residents were excited to be voting though sceptical that their ballot would translate to any meaningful improvement in their lives. Many expressed equal suspicion of both the military council and the protesters in Tahrir, as well as the parliamentary candidates on the ballot paper. "We don't know any of these people, not on the voting slip, not in the military government and not in the square [Tahrir], and they don't know us," declared one woman in the queue to vote. "But I'm here just to stop anyone stealing my ballot - we've had enough thievery in the past few decades, and it's time for a change."

Abdel Moez Ibrahim, the head of Egypt's High Elections Commission, has played down voting violations and problems at the polls.

According to al-Masry al-Youm he blamed the problems on judges and the interior ministry.



Ibrahim said that two problems have marred the poll so far: First, some judges arrived late to polling stations because they either did not know the exact address of their respective polling station or were stuck in traffic. Second, the ballots and boxes did not reach five polling stations in Cairo on time. He said that delivering boxes and ballots was not the HEC's responsibility but the Interior Ministry's.

One judge fainted from the stress of it all in the El-Sahel district of Cairo, according to Ahram Online.

Some of the other problems it highlights include:

• Protests in northern Cairo after ballots for 10 out of 12 sub-stations failed to appear. The chief of police for the area was suspended because of the delay. • A candidate from the Egyptian National Party pulled out a pistol pistol at polling station in Alexandria. • A leading member of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party accused the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party and Salafis of ballot stuffing. The FJP denied the accusations.

Meawhile, the Arabist highlights how complicated the electoral system is with two pictures. One shows the ballot paper from Cairo with 122 candidates on it, the other a party list with a further 16 parties to choose from.

There have been instances of vote buying and voter coercion, according to campaigner Hatem Rushdy, but the practice appears to be less widespread than in previous elections.

There's a lot going on. We've heard of vote selling, people paying for votes, people giving out hand outs for votes - sometimes money sometimes food stuffs. It seems like it still going on. We have also heard of a lot of coerced voting where the owners of large residential housing projects have asked employees to give in their national IDs so the vote can be done on mass on their behalf. [But] it is not as widespread as it was previously, at least not in Cairo.

When Hatem voted he said two of the 12 substations had no judges to observe the ballot. But he said the vote was going better than expected and the turnout could be the highest in Egyptian history.

Summing up the vote so far Rusdy, a Cairo businessman and author of 18 Days in Tahrir, said: "Good, hoping for better, it's long road, but we've got to start somewhere."

Voters are sharing their experiences of the lengthy queues and long waits at polling stations on Twitter, Flickr and Facebook. My colleague Laura Oliver has posted a round up of the tales from the polling stations using Storify.

If you're queuing up to vote, tell us what the experience was like in a comment on the thread below or tweet @guardian.

"It's chaotic and confusing but it does seem to be working," Martin Chulov reports from Cairo.

Voters were waiting in line for four to five hours before casting their vote in the east of the city, Martin said. In some cases they will have to vote a lot longer, Martin predicted.

All sides have been violating the law against campaigning outside polling stations, and no one was trying to stamp it out, Martin said. But there have been no widespread allegations of serious violations and so far the poll is going better than expected.

All the people that we spoke to in Tahrir Square throughout the were very worried about this elections. They thought it could be sabotaged, they thought it was being set up to fail, people wouldn't embrace it, that there was a liberal minority who were hemmed in on both sides. However all sides have turned out across town today. Most neighbourhoods in almost all communities are exercising their right to vote, which has to be a good thing at this stage.



The Litmus test will come when the polls close and voters may get shut out after queuing for hours, Martin warned.

Polling stations which opened late will have their hours extended, according to al-Jazeera's Sherine Tadros.

Egyptian Chronicles reports that 74 polling stations remained closed almost four hours after they were supposed to open.

An election live blog by Ahram online has similar reports:

More reports stream in, indicating that several polling stations have either not opened yet or opened late. Stations have been reported to lack phosphoric ink which is used to ascertain that a voter has only voted once while other reports indicate that judges have not been stamping ballots instead signing them to the great dismay of many voters.

The National Council for Human Rights has received 161 complaints since the start of polling, Ahram says..

The volatile backdrop to today's elections were underlined by two apparent attacks on Egypt's gas pipelines to Jordan and Israel.

The two explosions happened about 100 metres apart west of al-Arish in Sinai, witnessed said according to this video report.

The video live streaming site Bambuser has a collection of video documenting the scene outside Egyptian polling stations.

This one gives an idea of the turn out at what appears to be a male-only voting line. The queue goes on and on.

Leading members of the Egyptian Twitterati are keeping an eagle-eye on elections violations:

@Egyptocracy

@AymanM



@NevineZaki

@Sandmonkey

This wonderful picture (which is featured on Enduring America's blog) gives you an idea of the size of the ballot paper voters are facing.

Speaking after voting 23-year-old Ahmed Eid told al-Masry al-Youm:

It was pretty straightforward. The ballot for the list was like two meters long – it took forever to find my candidate. But otherwise it went well, and felt very secure and fair. Every five minutes or so, the judge in charge would change the locks on all the boxes.

There are queues of up to 1km long in the Cairo suburb of Heliopolis, according to an election live blog of the Egyptian daily al-Masry al-Youm.

Here's a selection of the election news it has picked up:

• Alleged vote buy in Old Cairo.

• Widespread flouting of the rules against campaigning including text messages by the Egypt Bloc and the Reform and Development party and campaigning inside polling stations in Assiut by the Muslim Brotherhood.

• Undelivered ballots in Assiut and Fayoum. Late arrival of judicial election observers in Nasr City.

• Polling at the rate of one person every ten minutes at one station, as voters struggle with a 73-name polling card.

• Pushing at polling stations in the Cairo suburb Dar al-Salam and late opening of some of the stations in the area.

Egyptians have flocked to the polling stations in their millions amid a string of logistical problems, Jack Shenker reports from Cairo.

We have already seen claims of judges [who are acting as election observers] who haven't turned up to the correct ballot stations; voters who don't know where they are supposed to be voting; people who have arrived at the right stations and found that the ballot papers are not there yet, and some darker electioneering going on.

A ban on campaigning at polling stations is being widely flouted, particularly by the Muslim Brotherhood, Jack reports.

A sit-in to prevent the new prime minister, Kamal Ganzouri from getting to his office is still underway, Jack reports, but the number of protesters in Tahrir Square has decreased because of the voting and an unusual rain storm in Egypt, Jack says. And a call to boycott the poll seems to be falling on deaf ears, he adds.

We are already getting a lot of reports of [voting] violations. In Alexandria there have been a number of cases of people spying pre-marked ballot papers before the polls had even opened ... There is also a lot of concern about whether the ballot boxes will be secured over night. But there are lots and lots of initiatives aimed at combating violations. Logistically the system is creaking and it's struggling to cope with the numbers. People know that, which is why they are turning up early to vote and it is why they are having to queue for so long. But it doesn't seem to have put people off ... they seem incredibly optimistic and excited.

One of the three American students released last week after being accused of throwing petrol bombs at the Egyptian security forces, has been speaking to AP about his ordeal.

"It was the most frightening experience of my life, I believe," Derrik Sweeney said. The three wandered the streets and wound up in a large group of protesters outside the Interior Ministory, Sweeney said. The demonstrations escalated, with the protesters yelling and perhaps throwing stones, he said. "Eventually the police shot back something, I'm not exactly sure what," he said. "We didn't wait to see. But as soon as we saw some sort of firing coming from the gun and heard it, the whole crowd stampeded out and we sprinted away." He said they fled to an area that seemed calmer and were approached by

four or five Egyptians in plain clothes. The Egyptians offered to lead them to safety but instead took them into custody, Sweeney said. They were threatened to be force-fed gasoline, beaten and forced to lie in a near-fetal position in the dark for six hours with their hands in cuffs behind their backs, Sweeney said. He said they were told: "If you move or make any noise, we will shoot you."

"They were hitting us in the face and in the back of the neck," he said. "Not to the point of bleeding or I can't say I have any lasting major scars at this point, but they were hitting us."

Welcome to Middle East Live. Early turnout is reported to be high as Egypt goes to the polls despite continuing protests.

Martin Chulov tweets from Cairo:

It's chaotic & confused. But underway. Flyers near polling booths (a no-no). Crowds & optimism growing @ #Egypt's 1st free vote

Before we get to the latest election news, you might need to do a little bit of homework. Jack Shenker has a very clear explanation of Egypt's complicated election process in a Q&A format.

There is also a useful chart by Jacopo Carbonari of where the parties stand on right and left axis and a religious and secular axis.

Right, here's a round up of where we are:

Egypt

• Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi has said the country is at a crossroads between order and chaos.

We will not allow troublemakers to meddle in these elections. We are at a crossroads. There are only two routes: the success of elections, leading Egypt towards safety, or facing dangerous hurdles that we in the armed forces, as part of the Egyptian people, will not allow.

• The Muslim Brotherhood is poised to make sweeping gains solidifying the conservative Islamic movement as a powerhouse in post-revolution Egypt and an emerging force in a volatile region, writes Martin Chulov. One member predicted the brotherhood would pick up 75% of the legislature, another 25%.

• From bananas to tanks, traffic lights to toothbrushes, a dazzling array of weird and wonderful party symbols are on offer to Egyptian voters as they head to the polls. The use of symbols to distinguish between rival parties and candidates dates back to the 1950s and the rule of Gamal Abdel Nasser, when an effort was made to help illiterate voters mark their ballot papers correctly.

• It's too late to boycott the elections as some activists have urged, writes the prominent blogger Zeinobia on Egyptian Chronicles.

Activist are calling the people to boycott the elections in order not to give SCAF a legitimacy, the problem is that even if we boycott the elections , it will claim to have legitimacy in a way or another ... Boycotting elections need a campaign , a long one , not just [a] week.

Syria

• Syria is facing stiff sanctions imposed by the Arab League after President Bashar al-Assad refused to allow observers into the country to monitor violence that claimed dozens more lives at the weekend. Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo on Sunday agreed a package of measures designed to force Assad to end his security crackdown, free prisoners and launch reforms to find an end to the eight-month uprising.

• Jordan's foreign minister says 100 Syrian military and police deserters have taken refuge in the kingdom throughout the eight-month uprising in their country. Nasser Judeh's remarks were the first official public confirmation that Jordan hosts Syrian defectors.

Iran

• Iran's parliament has voted to expel the British ambassador in Tehran in retaliation against economic sanctions imposed by the west over the Islamic republic's disputed nuclear programme. Iranian MPs on Sunday passed a bill that in effect gave President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government two weeks to expel the ambassador, Dominick Chilcott.

Yemen

• Ali Abdullah Saleh has spread confusion about whether he still his country's effective ruler after he returned to Yemen to issue an amnesty for "follies" committed during the uprising. The amnesty offer seemed likely to further annoy Saleh's political opponents, who have complained that after yielding power, he has refused to step out of the spotlight, leading to confusion about his role, the New York Times reports.

• Yemen's vice-president Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi has named a senior opposition figure, Mohammed Basindwa, as interim prime minister, the BBC reports. He has been charged with forming a national reconciliation government ahead of early elections in February.