and right now, heavy turnout reported in the country's first elections since the fall of hosni mubarek, this after days of deadly protests in tahrir square. greg palkot has more. >> reporter: the latest word we are getting is voting hours have been extended for two hours, 9:00 p.m. local, because of that heavy demand, the latest word we're also getting is there's no real violence associated with this voting. that's pretty much what we saw when we went out on the ground, earlier today, and went to one polling station. take a look at what we saw. >> we were in the daha neighborhood of cairo, where there is a massive turnout for the first three elections since the fall of hosni mubarek. it is a lengthy process, there are many ballots. it's complicated. there are many parties, many candidates. it's controversial. some say this vote shouldn't happen at all. and it is potentially dangerous. there is a massive turnout of soldiers, of police, they call it maximum security. but the folks here seem to be just fine, they want to seem to want to give democracy a chance. they are voting here at thi

where there is a massive turnout for the first free election since the fall of egyptian president hosni mubarek. it is a lengthy process, there are many ballots, it's con clamped, there are many parties, candidates. it's controversial. some say this vote shouldn't happen at all and it is potentially dangerous. there is a massive turnout of soldiers, of police. they call it maximum security. but the folks here seem to be defying all the odds, they seem to want to give democracy a chance. they're voting here at this school. >> we went to a few other polling stations, we saw some confusion, we heard about some irregularities, there have been reports of some violence, but experts we talked to tonight say they're observing the elections and it's looking good. we're also told that muslim brotherhood, the promised party, had the big vote in getting the vote out. they could get as much as 40 percent in the popularmentry election. now, as for the military leader, tantawi, a big demand of the protestors that have been staging violence in the last week is that he and his military council should step down.

with protestors for the fifth straight day, the worst violence since the reskwraepl that ousted hosni mubarek 30 people have been killed in this latest uprising over the last couple of days. the demonstrators are rejecting a proposal from egypt's military ruler to creed out the transfer of power to civilian government, saying they want him gone, the military leader, now. robin wright, robin, let's start with our relationship with the egyptian military, because that's something key that we need to consider when we're talking about the state of -- fate of egypt over the next several years. describe our connection, country to country, with the military in egypt. >> the united states has been one of the main funders and armers of the egyptian military. the united states gives about $1.3 billion a year to the egyptian military. that's aside from any kind of civilian or aid or development assistance. that relationship has been pivotal on a lot of different levels, whether it's on an arab-israel repeace, counterterrorism, and the united states had continued that aid in part because the army had init

there is irhal, in eric, leave, leave, the exact words in arabic they chanted to form president hosni mubarek just days before he was forcedst step down. what they told the people, was the parliamentary elections will begin on monday and that they're willing to hand over military rule to an elected civilian power by the end of june, and also, that there will be elections for president by next june as well. remember, kontawi was the defense minister under mubarek. the protestors equate him as being the exact same as mubarek and they want him out. it doesn't feel like these protestors are going anywhere, any time soon, that the goal for the military council was to clear them. not going to happen. meanwhile we're learning about the americans, three american college students picked up by egyptian police today, from drexel, indiana and georgetown university, between the ages of 19 and 21, derek sween gentlemen, gregory porter, and luke gates were able to make contact with their mothers and their schools, but there's no word as to what will happen next in this procedure. egyptian state tv is claim

as we get early indications of the outcome of egypt's first elections, since the overthrow of hosni mubarekwerful muslim brotherhood, expected to grab a big share of this vote. greg palkot is streaming live for us from cairo. break it down for us greg. >> reporter: hey jon, ballots are still being counted. we won't have the official preliminary results from the first round of popularmentry voting until tomorrow. what we can tell you, from all vations -- indications, turnout may be as high as 70 percent. we can also tell you by all indications that the political wing of the islamist muslim brotherhood organization, that's the freedom and justice party, will also do well, maybe as high as 40 percent, along with other muslim organizations, political parties with even more conservative views on things. the future government here could have a decidedly muslim build. according to the muslim brotherhood, they are open, they are inclusive, and in fact they are very active in the community and they're also pragmatic politicians. we did hear a lot of support for them on the ground but also the promot