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Egyptians wait in line to vote
Photo: Reuters

Egyptians head to polls for 2-day election runoffs

Turnout appears lower than expected for two days of runoffs in the country's first parliamentary elections since fall of Hosni Mubarak; islamists already ahead with overwhelming majority from first round

A trickle of Egyptian voters headed to the polls Monday for two days of runoffs in the country's first parliamentary elections since Hosni Mubarak's ouster, a balloting in which Islamist parties already captured an overwhelming majority of the votes in the first round.

 

Turnout in the morning hours appeared to be lower than expected, and the trickle of voters at some polling stations was a sharp contrast to the massive lines during the first round a week ago, when the turnout was nearly 60 percent the highest in Egypt's modern history.

 

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Architect Hala Shaker, 39, said she thought the low turnout Monday was "scary," since small voter numbers could serve the Islamists in her constituency, where runoffs were between Islamists and secular candidates.

 

"We don't want people with strict ideology who will force their views," she said. "We're Muslims but we don't want these people telling us how to practice our religion."

 

The runoffs are unlikely to change the Islamists' gains, which have dealt a huge blow to liberals behind the uprising that toppled Mubarak 10 months ago.

 

According to results released on Sunday, the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party garnered 36.6 percent of the 9.7 million valid ballots cast for party lists. The ultraconservative Salafists' Al-Nour Party, a more hard-line Islamist group, captured 24.4 percent, while the secular Egyptian Bloc won 13.4 percent of the votes.

 

The Monday races have fundamentalist Islamist candidates contesting each other and also secular candidates for the remainder of the 52 seats that were up for grabs in the first found.

 

There are still two more rounds of voting staggered over the coming weeks. The ballots are a confusing mix of individual races and party lists, and Sunday's results only reflect the party list performance for less than a third of the 498-seat parliament.

 

 

 


פרסום ראשון: 12.05.11, 13:31
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