Islamists Win Combined 70% of Egypt Vote

By Haaretz December 18, 2011

The Muslim Brotherhood party secured 39 percent of the vote, while the Salafi Al Nour party won 31 percent of the vote in the second stage of Egypt’s landmark post-Mubarak elections, according to unofficial results published on the website of Egypt’s Al-Ahram newspaper on Sunday.

The unofficial results for the second stage of elections for the lower house of the Egyptian parliament also showed that the secular, liberal Wafd party won 22 percent of the vote. Islamist parties won some 70 percent of the total vote, a similar result to the first stage of elections, which took place on November 28.

Turnout in the second round of voting in Egypt’s parliamentary elections reached 67 per cent, with most constituencies expecting run-off votes, elections officials said Sunday, with more than 12 million citizens casting their ballots on Wednesday and Thursday.

The turnout was higher than that of the first round, estimated by the High Elections Commission at 60 per cent. A final round, with the remaining nine provinces, has been set for January.

The elections took place in nine provinces, in Islamiyya, Suez and Giza. The gap between the Muslim Brotherhood and the Al Nour party shrank in this round of voting, with the Brotherhood winning 49 percent of the vote, and Al Nour won 20 percent in the previous round.

Violence continued on Sunday for the third day straight in Egypt, where the military sought to isolate pro-democracy activists protesting against their rule, depicting them as conspirators and vandals. Troops and protesters pelting each other with stones near parliament in the heart of the capital.

For more, go to Haaretz.com

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