Egypt Live Blog

Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, on Thursday congratulated Egypt on its "historic" presidential election, and said Washington was ready to work with a new government in Cairo.

She said in a statement:

We look forward to working with Egypt's democratically elected government."

"Today, the Egyptian people concluded a historic two days of voting in the first round of their presidential election, marking another important milestone in their transition to democracy."

"We will continue to stand with the Egyptian people as they work to seize the promise of last year's uprising and build a democracy that reflects their values and traditions, respects universal human rights, and meets their aspirations for dignity and a better life."

Vote counting started after polls closed at 9pm local time (1900 GMT) for the second day of Egypt's first free presidential election, 15 months after Hosni Mubarak was toppled from the presidency.

Jamal Elshayyal our correspondent in Alexandria sent this image of a box full of votes caster freely sealed and waiting to be counted in Alexandria.

Evan Hill, our producer in Cairo, sent in this picture of Sayyid el-Maymouny, a tourist shop owner in Nazlat el-Semman near the Pyramids.

El-Maymouny says he and others are voting for Amr Moussa because he knows politics well.

"Ahmed Shafiq, not Moussa, is the real felool, he said.

"For one and a half year politicians have been cauaing us some trouble and we feel if Ahmed Shafiq wins it will not go well. I used to stand in Tahrir, i went to the square in the revolution."