CAIRO, December 9, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Egypt's press, state-owned and independent, contradicted sharply Friday, December 9, on their feedback of the parliamentary polls that saw some 11 people lose their lives and hundreds others were wounded.

Al-Masry Al-Youm, Egypt's only independent daily that gained huge respect and saw its distribution skyrocketing during the elections, headlined with the poll results that gave the ruling National Democratic Party – after enlisting back independents – 73% of the 454-seat parliament, 20% to the Muslim Brotherhood, 16 seats for independents, 6 seats for Al-Wafd Party and two seats only for leftist Al-Tagammu' (Gathering) Party.

State-owned and mass-circulation daily Al-Ahram gave the NDP 75%, adding "independents" grabbed 94 seats and opposition parties won 14 seats.

Al-Wafd Party's opposition daily, carrying the same name, had something else to highlight: "NDP in Trouble: It needs 75 seats to guarantee the majority".

While state-run dailies gave large coverage to NDP officials' statements and their columnists focused on what they described as "historical elections and a great democratic change", opposition and independent dailies highlighted the immense irregularities that marred the month-long elections.

Al-Masry Al-Youm highlighted reports by the civil society groups that monitored the polls under an indicative headline: "Civil society: NDP carried out operations 'Desert Storm' and 'Protection Shield' to get the majority."

The report stressed civil groups' strong condemnation of the final tragic scene that saw the killing by police forces of eight citizens and the wounding of scores others, capping a process that was plagued by voter intimidation, fraud, vote-buying, abuses of the judges monitoring the process; to name a few of a long list of "electoral crimes".

On its first page, another two reports covered the negative and tragic consequences of the process. The first spoke about judges receiving threats over the phone, not to highlight electoral irregularities and the second shed light on the grieve and sadness by the victims' families.

"Choke on it" was the headline of an independent weekly's editorial by its outspoken editor-in-chief, referring to the two-thirds majority of the NDP.

"Choke on it… If the two-thirds MP majority will comfort the NDP leaders, let them have it and choke on it," Ibrahim Issa, Al-Dostour independent weekly's chief-in-editor wrote in the December 7-14 issue.

Using highly emotional language and simple words – favored by the majority of Egyptian readers – Issa accused the NDP of using all dirty tricks in a "disgusting way" to guarantee the majority, saying such tactics might have given the ruling party what it sought but it sure "took away its ethical legitimacy".

Police forces managed to block voters. (Reuters)

But the picture was completely different in state-owned press and media in general.

"The NDP's victory makes the dreams of Egyptians a reality," NDP secretary general Safwat Al-Sherif said in comments widely reported by the three state-owned dailies; Al-Ahram, Al-Akhbar and Al-Gomhorya.

The NDP "is completely confident that the country is living in a state of marvelous awakening and participation (in elections) which allowed the party to obtain the anticipated majority."

Al-Sherif, a long-time leader in the old guard, did not mention a word about various accusations of fraud and intimidation by state police forces and NDP supporters, which resulted in 11 deaths and hundreds of wounded during the three-phase (six legs) voting process.

While intimidation and wide-scale violence are making the headlines of Egypt's hottest ever parliamentary elections, the state-owned media coverage and performance in general reflected a deep state of chaos, "highly indicative" of the political atmosphere in the largest Arab country.

Egyptian press also devoted considerable space to the gains made by the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist movement founded in 1928 that campaigned on the slogan: "Islam is the solution."

"The rise of the religious movement in elections and the regression of other parties including the NDP marks a turning point in Egypt's political life," wrote editorialist Kamel in the government-run daily Al-Akhbar, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Nobel Prize winning novelist Naguib Mahfouz said it was important not to "exaggerate the concern" raised by the Islamist party's success.

"It is preferable to have this religious movement in the parliament rather than kept in secret. Exclusion feeds fanaticism," he wrote in Al-Ahram.

Voters in one of the six polling stations that saw a "zero" turnout. (Reuters)

Mahfouz added that "of much greater concern is the sad failure of the secular opposition," including the liberal Wafd party, Al-Tagammu' and the Nasserite Karama parties, which together won only 14 seats, or three percent of the parliament.

In statements published by the three state dailies, NDP spokesman, Mohamed Kamal, dismissed the Brotherhood's shock election showing, saying instead that the vote results show the public's confidence in the long-time ruling party.

Out of 444 candidates it filed in all 222 constituencies, the NDP won only 147, but enrolled independents that won 179 to be able to control the coming parliament, due to convene December 20.

The Muslim Brotherhood has fielded less than 150 candidates and scored 88 wins despite widespread interference in various forms; most notable was barring voters from casting their ballots altogether, especially in the final leg Wednesday.

Official vote counting documents in one constituency showed almost half of the polling stations carrying the mark "Zero" under the title "Number of votes".

The case was reported in the second constituency of Kafr El-Sheikh governorate in the Delta, with IOL witnessing copies of the official vote-counting papers signed by the monitoring judges. Ballot boxes from six main voting stations – stronghold of MB candidate Shaker Sunnar – had no single vote.

Sunnar surprisingly won the seat, however, after gaining over 24,000 votes, compared to his independent rival – who was declared an NDP runner on election day – that grabbed 19,000.

"We were told to let people vote in the NDP strongholds around the constituency, but we never imagined people hated NDP to the degree that they would vote for someone they do not even know," an NDP local official told IOL from Kafr El-Sheikh over the phone Friday.

Egyptian judges supervising the month-long parliamentary elections on Thursday, December 8, distanced themselves from the results of the bloody final round of voting, which saw the killing of eight people by security forces.