Egypt: Islamist Parties Win Second Round Of Elections

Egypt’s leading Islamist parties won 65 percent of votes for party lists in the second round of elections for a new parliament, the electoral committee said Saturday. The Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party won 36.5 percent of the vote for party lists, with 4,058,498 out of 11,173,818 votes, according to figures provided by the electoral committee for the second round which was held on December 14.

Salaist Al-Nur party won 28.78 percent, with 3,216,430 votes.

At a news conference on Saturday, electoral chief Abdel Moez Ibrahim declared the winners for the individual vote. Al-Ahram newspaper reported that the FJP won 40 seats and Al-Nur 13.

Al-Wafd — Egypt’s oldest party — won 9.6 percent of the party list vote and the Egyptian Bloc, the main liberal coalition, just seven percent, AFP reported.

Islamists won some 65% of seats in the first round.