Channels

Polling station in Egypt
Photo: Reuters
Will honor peace treaty. Badia
Photo: AFP

Islamists secure top spot in Egypt elections

Muslim Brotherhood wins 38% share of seats in Egypt's first freely-elected parliament in decades. Hardline Islamist Al-Nour Party comes in second with 29% of seats

The Muslim Brotherhood won by far the biggest share of seats allocated to party lists in Egypt's first freely-elected parliament in decades, final results confirmed, and it named one of its top officials to lead the assembly.

 

Banned under former leader Hosni Mubarak and his predecessors, the Brotherhood has emerged as the winner from his overthrow. Islamists of various stripes have taken about two thirds of seats in the assembly, broadly in line with their own forecasts.

 

Related stories:

 

The Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) has promised that all Egyptians will have a voice in the new parliament, but Islamists are now set to wield major influence over a new constitution to be drafted by a 100-strong body that parliament will help pick.

 

According to final results of the staggered election issued by the High Elections Committee on Saturday, the Brotherhood's electoral alliance took a 38% share of the seats allocated to lists.

 


בתור לקלפי. המצרים העדיפו את המפלגות האיסלאמיות (צילום: רויטרס)

line to polling station (Photo: Reuters)

 

The hardline Islamist Al-Nour Party won 29% of list seats. The liberal New Wafd and Egyptian Bloc coalition came third and fourth respectively.

 

Muslim Brotherhood's leader, Mohammed Badia, said on Friday that his party would honor the 1979 peace treaty with Israel, as long as the Jewish State does the same.

 

Monumental shift from the past

The Revolution Continues coalition, dominated by youth groups at the forefront of the protests that toppled Mubarak, attracted less than a million votes and took just seven of the 498 seats up for grabs in the lower house.

 

 
ועדת הבחירות מכריזה על התוצאות (צילום: EPA)

Elections committee anounces results (Photo: EPA)

 

Under a complex electoral system, two thirds or 332 of the seats in lower house are decided by proportional representation on closed party lists. The other third are contested by individual candidates.

 

The elections committee did not give results for individual seats, although the FJP's alliance has said it expects to take 41% of all seats in the lower house.

 

The rise of the Islamists in Egypt's first election since Mubarak's overthrow in February last year marks a monumental shift from the past when parliament was a compliant body stuffed with members of his National Democratic Party and the Muslim Brotherhood was officially banned but tolerated.

 

The arrival of a new generation of politicians with a genuine popular mandate suggests parliament will seek to temper the power of the ruling military council, which has pledged to step aside at the end of June.

 

 

 

 

 

 


פרסום ראשון: 01.21.12, 16:53
 new comment
Warning:
This will delete your current comment