Islamic Parties Win 60% of Egypt Vote
Although official results have not yet been published, Al-Jazeera reported on Friday night that the Islamist bloc won 60 percent of the vote in the first round of Egypt’s parliamentary elections.
This marks an unprecedented achievement for the Islamist bloc and surpasses expectations.
According to the report, the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party won approximately 40 percent of the vote, which was in line with predictions.
Perhaps the biggest surprise was the 20 percent of the vote won by the radical Islamic Salafi movement’s Al-Nour Party.
The secular Egyptian Bloc came in third with 15 percent of the vote, followed by two other secular movements.
It should be noted that the Salafis were persecuted for decades by Egyptian security forces and only began to operate publically in the political sphere following the revolution earlier this year that overthrew the regime of Hosni Mubarak.
For more, go to Haaretz.com
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