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Egypts Islamists secure 75 percent of parliament
CAIRO: Final results on Saturday showed that Islamist parties won nearly three-quarters of the seats in parliament in Egypts first elections since the ouster of authoritarian president Hosni Mubarak, according to election officials and political groups. A coalition led by the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood won 47 percent, or 235 seats in the 498-seat parliament. The ultraconservative Al-Nour Party was second with 25 percent, or 125 seats.The Salifi Al-Nour, which was the biggest surprise of the vote, wants to impose strict Islamic law in Egypt, while the more moderate Brotherhood, the countrys best-known and organized party, has said publicly that it does not seek to force its views about an appropriate Islamic lifestyle on Egyptians. The two parties are unlikely to join forces because of ideological differences, but both have a long history of charity work in Egypts vast poverty-stricken neighborhoods and villages, giving them a degree of legitimacy and popularity across the country in areas where newer liberal parties have yet to get a foothold. The liberals who spearheaded the revolt that toppled Mubarak struggled to organize and connect with a broader public in the vote, and did not fair as well as the Islamists. The Egyptian bloc, which is headed by a party founded by Christian telecom tycoon Naguib Sawiris, said it won 9 percent of the seats in parliament. Egypts oldest secular party, the Wafd, also won around 9 percent. Newer parties, such as the liberal Revolution Continues Party won 2 percent, as did the Islamist Center Party, which had been banned from politics under Mubarak. The results leave the liberal groups with little ability to maneuver in parliament, unless they choose to mobilize the street in protests or work on key issues with the dominant Islamist groups, said Mohamed Abu-Hamed, the deputy leader of the liberal Free Egyptians Party. The most important element that led Islamists to win is their use of Islamic language in their outreach, Abu-Hamed told The Associated Press. They pressured peoples religious conscience." Abu-Hamed vowed that the Egyptian Bloc will take to the streets and hold sit-ins inside parliament if the new legislator passes laws that discriminate against minorities or oversteps its boundaries. The final tally, which includes at least 15 seats for former regime figures, comes as little surprise since election results had been partially announced throughout the three stages of the vote, which took place over several weeks across the country. Egypts elections commission acknowledged that there were voting irregularities, but the election has been hailed as the countrys freest and fairest vote in living memory. Posted by: Steve White 2012-01-22 |
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