Egyptians line up in heat to pick a Mubarak successor under a cloud of uncertainty The balloting comes two days after a controversial ruling that led to the dissolution of the Islamist-dominated parliament, the only freely elected body in Egypt. Activists and some leading political figures described the move as a "soft coup." So Egyptians cast their votes in the presidential runoff election on Saturday under a cloud of uncertainty, with no constitution, no parliament and no defined powers for the president. The people will have two days to choose between Ahmed Shafiq, a former air force chief, and Mohamed Morsi, the candidate of the once-repressed Muslim Brotherhood. The balloting comes 16 months after millions of Egyptians revolted against Mubarak's repressive rule. But since his ouster many here are now weary of unending protests, flashes of violence and a faltering economy. The transition has been marred by division between liberals, leftists and Islamists as well as what many see as the military ruler's intention to protect their own economic and political interests at the cost of true democracy. Also this week, the justice ministry effectively put the nation under martial law, authorizing the military police to arrest any citizen for a wide range of suspected crimes. The Brotherhood has made clear that if its candidate loses, it will contest the results and cry fraud. The dissolution of parliament was a huge blow to the organization which holds nearly half the seats. But despite all the problems, turnout appeared high in some parts of the country but relatively low in most polling stations in the capital. Polling stations opened at 8 a.m. and some Egyptians waited for over an hour to slip their ballot into plastic bins. In Cairo's working-class neighborhood of Imbaba, veiled women lined up outside a schoolhouse. Unlike previous elections this year, the prevailing mood was one of apprehension. "Before, everyone was happy," Fatima Soliman, 50, said. Now nobody is happy. When asked who she would vote for, she scanned the crowd around warily, and whispered her choice: Shafiq. A supporter of Morsi who overheard her complained to a policeman. The wide-chested cop dressed in white admonished a journalist. "It is forbidden to ask them who they are voting for," he said. At one suburban Cairo polling station men burst into chants of "The People want Ahmed Shafiq," and at others spontaneous arguments erupted betwee voters. Morsi supporters accused Shafiq supporters of bretraying the revolution and choosing the old order over change. Shafiq supporters accused Morsi supporters of voting for an ultra-conservative organization that many accuse of riding Egypt's revolt to power after being initially hesitant to join it and later avoiding major protests. In the middle-class neighorhood of Dokki in central Cairo, pollings stations were relatively empty - no lines wrapped around the blocks here. To the north,"No to Shafiq" was scrawled in black paint in a school-turned-polling station in the suburban Cairo neighborhood of Shubra el-Kheima. Inside, voters trickled in under the watchful eye of military officers. About 150,000 security officers secured polling stations across the country Saturday. Morsi Ismail, 70, a retired public sector worker, said he was thrilled parliament had been disbanded. The Brotherhood, he said, "was trying to control all our institutions." Rudji Mohamed, a 39-year-old upholstery repairman, was unwilling to say who he voted for, but made clear he was disheartened by the dissolution of parliament. "We lived under repression for 30 years," he said.