Egypt’s Al-Sisi’s loyalists lead in parliament elections
A political alliance loyal to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has scooped all 60 list seats up for grabs in the first round of a parliamentary election in which opposition parties were all but absent, official results indicates on Thursday.
The initial round of voting for what would be Egypt’s first parliament in three years was held on Sunday and Monday, with turnout at just over a quarter of the electorate and images of empty polling stations splashed across local media.
The vote has been hailed by Sisi as the final step in a political transition that is meant to lead Egypt to democracy but critics say it has been undermined by widespread repression.
The main opposition Muslim Brotherhood, which won almost half the seats in 2011-12, has been banned and declared a terrorist group with thousands of its members behind bars and its supporters boycotted the vote.
A list of socialist and liberal parties which would have therefore presented the main opposition choice on ballot papers eventually withdrew, leaving the field dominated by Sisi supporters, former apparatchiks of ousted president Hosni Mubarak, and wealthy businessmen.
The Election Committee announced a turnout of 26.56 per cent over the two days, lower than the 2014 presidential election won by former military chief Sisi and much lower than the 2011-12 parliamentary election held just months after a popular uprising ended Mubarak’s 30-year rule.
The new parliament will comprise 568 members – of which 448 will be elected on an individual basis and 120 through winner-takes-all lists.
All but four of the 226 individual seats up for grabs in round one would be contested in run-offs between leading candidates to take place on Oct. 26 to Oct. 27 after none of those running clinched more than 50 per cent of the vote.
It would be recalled that Sisi removed President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in mid-2013 and went on to win the presidential poll a year later. (NAN)