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Islamist Freedom and Justice Party emerged as winner in Egypt’s final election rounds

Last Saturday preliminary results of the third and final round in Egypt’s elections showed that the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), an Islamist party with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, won more than one third of the votes, gaining 35.2 percent. 62 percent of the eligible voters cast their ballots on 3 and 4 January. In the first free elections since the ouster of president Mubarak, the Islamist parties overall gained a majority of seats in the People’s Assembly, Egypt’s lower house. Yet, the FJP will probably not seek alliance among ultraconservative Islamist parties. The new coalition will have a major influence on the appointment of the body drafting the new constitution, and it is likely to consist of the moderate Islamic FJP, liberal, centrist and leftist parties.

Elections
Second came the conservative Salafist Nour Party, winning 27.5 percent of the votes. The Islamist parties, as expected, performed well compared to non-religious parties. Al-Wafd won 9.8 percent of the seats so far, former Mubarak loyalists gained 4 percent. The liberal Egyptian Bloc Alliance, with the Egyptian Social Democratic Party as a leading member and the Nationalist Progressive Unionist Party as a minor social-democratic partner, obtained 5.2 percent of the votes. The Revolution Continues Alliance that includes the Socialist Popular Alliance Party and the Egyptian Socialist Party, won only 2 percent of the votes. In the new parliament, many parties will be represented. “We are happy with the results and are also happy that there are 15 or 16 parties in the parliament so far," said Essam al-Erian, deputy head of the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party. "This means all voices will be heard in the parliament," he said.

The final round was held in Qaliubiya, Daqahleya, North and South Sinai, Marsa Matrou, Gharbeya, Minya, Al-Wadi Al-Gadid and Qena. Egypt’s electoral system is highly complex. Around 40.000 eligible voters cast their ballots for the lower house in three different stages. The lower house consists of 498 seats chosen by voters and the interim military rulers will appoint an additional 10. Two third of the 498 seats are elected by proportional representation, one third will be distributed among individuals by a first-past-the-post system. On January 10 and 11, the final round of the run-offs on reserved seats for individuals will be held. The final results of the election and the exact distribution of seats in the lower house will therefore be due later this month. The elections for the upper house will not start until the end of January.

Alliance
Since no party won an outright majority, the FJP needs to form an alliance. The new alliance will set the agenda of the legislature and, more importantly, have a major influence over the appointment of 100 people who will jointly draft a new constitution. The political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood is considered relatively moderate and says it has no intention to cooperate with the ultraconservative and strong Islamic Nour Party. Among the positions of the Nour party are strict implementation of Islamic law, a prohibition on alcohol and separated work places for women. Amr Darrag, secretary general of the Giza branch of the FJP in Cairo, says “I don’t think we will have clear collaboration between us and the Nour Party as a coalition. I think that they’ll be in the opposition.” Probably, they will seek to ally with the liberals, centrists and leftists.

By the end of June the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces promised to hand over its presidential powers to a newly elected president. Even though the first stages of the elections went well, it will still take months before Egypt is ready to start a new era of democratic governance.

Sources: Albawaba, Washington Post, ABC, The Daily News Egypt
Image Flickr: by Mosa'aberising