CAIRO,
November 10, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Partial results of Egypt's
first round of parliamentary elections showed President Hosni
Mubarak's ruling party leading the polls, with the banned Muslim
Brotherhood making a strong showing in the polls.
Intissar
Nessim, secretary general of the electoral commission, said most
candidates of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) have retained
their seats.
In
Cairo, Parliament Speaker Fathi Sorur and presidential cabinet chief
Zakaria Azmi won re-election, according to Egypt's state-owned daily Al-Ahram.
In
the Nile Delta region, NDP vice chair Kamal Al-Shazli and Ahmed Ezz,
close to Hosni Mubarak's son Gamal and a member of the ruling party's
politburo, were also re-elected.
The
daily added that ministers of housing, finance and state minister of
military production also won the polls.
Egyptian
voters in eight of Egypt's governorates cast ballot Wednesday in the
first round of an almost month-long three-phase parliamentary polls.
This
first round of elections involved a total of 1,635 candidates vying
for 164 of the People's Assembly's 444 seats that are up for grabs.
Cairo,
Giza, Menoufiya, Beni Sueif, Menya, Assiut, New Valley and Mersa
Matrouh are the governorates that witnessed the voting.
The
Independent Commission for Election Monitoring said the average
turnout was 34 percent but election officers in a hotly contested
Cairo constituency said Wednesday it ranged between 10 and 20 percent
in the various polling stations.
Blows
In
a stunning blow to the Egyptian opposition, two leading figures lost
their seats in the polls to NDP candidates.
Ayman
Nour, leader of the liberal Ghad (Tomorrow) Party and Mubarak's main
rival in September presidential elections, lost his seat in his own
Cairo stronghold of Bab Al-Sheriya to Yehia Wahdan, an NDP member,
according to the electoral commission.
Nour's
wife and spokeswoman, Gameela Ismail, complained of intimidation and
vote-buying by supporters of Wahdan during Wednesday's vote.
Nour
rose to prominence and attracted international attention after being
remanded in custody for six weeks earlier this year over forgery
charges he said were trumped up to undermine his political ascension.
In
September, Nour emerged as the strongest of the nine candidates who
challenged Hosni Mubarak, by mustering 7.6 percent of the vote against
the veteran president's 88.6 percent.
And
in another blow to the Egyptian opposition, Wafd stalwart Munir Fakhri
Abdel Nour lost his seat in the Wayli constituency to NDP candidate
Sherein Fouad.
Strong
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The vote was generally better than previous elections, but some say irregularities remain. (Reuters)
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Initial
results also showed candidates of the banned but largely tolerated
Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest opposition group which is fielding
more than 130 candidates across the country, has made a strong show in
the polls.
The
electoral commission said that the group's candidates have won seats
in the districts of Sayeda Zeinab, Misr Al-Jadida, Nasr City and
Helwan.
The
group also said it had won three seats in other constituencies but
these were not confirmed.
The
Muslim Brotherhood led a well-crafted and aggressive campaign and
hopes to treble its current tally of 15 seats.
Run-off
Partial
results also showed many NDP candidates will run-off against
opposition figures and independents.
Mostafa
Bakri, candidate for the National Opposition Front, told IOL that he
will runoff in the Tebeen constituency against NDP candidate Nabil
Al-Jabri.
NDP
politburo member Hossam Badrawi will also run-off against the his
party dissident Hisham Mustafa.
Runoffs
are due to be held November 15, but with the election spread out over
three phases in a month.
The
second round of voting is due to kick off on November 20 and all of
Egypt's 26 provinces will have voted by December 7.
