Today history is being made in Egypt as Egyptians are voting for the first time in elections that are competitive, free and democratic. Since last year's ousting, of long-time ruler and close U.S. ally Hosni Mubarak, who had been in power for 30 years.

50 million Egyptians registered to vote for a President of the Republic and big crowds have assembled at the polling stations. Men and Women are in separate lines to vote.

One voter expressed his optimism. Speaking in Arabic he said,

"I am here to elect, for the first time, a President of the Republic. A president that will be good and righteous and to make this country wake up."

While over in Alexandria, the second biggest city in Egypt, crowds were gathered outside. And inside the polling station everything was set up with the ballot boxes and voting forms.

The chairman of the voting committee said in Arabic everything was going to plan,

"As you can see everything is well prepared for the electoral process, fair guarantees to all candidates are being provided by the higher commission foe the elections, but I want to say the most significant guarantee for a fair poll is the Egyptian justice and judiciary does not need to be observed because our souls are monitoring the process. We are neutral and I hope everything passed in the right way"

The front runners in the voting race are Ahmed Shafiq, a former commander of the air force and briefly prime minister during February 2011 protests. Amr Moussa, who has served as foreign minister and head of the Arab League. Mohammed Mursi, who heads Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party and Abdul Moneim Aboul Fotouh, an independent Islamist candidate.

Written and Presented by Ann Salter