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Final election results Egypt revealed

On Saturday 21 January official results of Egypt’s lower house (People’s Assembly) elections were published. The Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, has won the first democratic polls since the ouster of president Mubarak overwhelmingly. As all seats are now allocated, the newly elected members of the parliament could read the oath of office and assemble for the first time on Monday 23 January.

Election results
Banned during Mubarak’s rule, the relatively moderate Islamic Freedom and Justice Party now won 235 or 47,5 percent of the seats in the People’s Assembly. The more extremist Salafi Al-Nour party came second obtaining 125 or 25,1 percent of the seats. Following the official results, liberal Al-Wafd acquired 66 seats and the Egyptian Bloc comprising the Egyptian Social Democrats and other leftist parties gained 33 seats in parliament. Ziad El-Eleimi, founder of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, received an applause by ensuring to defend the “blood of the martyrs”, before he took the oath. 10 members or the People’s Assembly are directly chosen by the head of the Military Council (SCAF) which is currently in power. Among these people are five Coptic Christians and three women. Only 1 percent is allocated to women, however no women was appointed any seat conforming the election results.

Work to do
"Today we resume the revolution. We have wasted a year. We have work to do," member of the non-religious Karama party Kamal Abu Etta said on Monday. At the beginning of Monday’s session, the lower house elected a speaker, Mohamed Saad el-Katatni. Subsequently, the People’s Assembly was due to allocate the 100 person body devoted to write Egypt’s new constitution. Although the Islamists have clearly won the majority in parliament, the FJP announced it will include all parties in the draft. "We will cooperate with everyone: with the political forces inside and outside parliament, with the interim government and with the military council until we reach safety heralded by presidential election," ensured Essam el-Erian, deputy FJP head.

Military power
The SCAF is still clinging on to power. The military council vowed to step back after presidential elections in June. Yet they demand to wield influence on the writing of the constitution and hence, the new parliament’s powers. The SCAF is repeatedly accused for human rights abuses and few believe they will relinquish power after a new president is chosen. On 20 January hundreds of Egyptians took the streets again calling for the shift of power to a civilian government, pulling down the military trials against civilians and the execution of Mubarak. The FJP announced it will not seek confrontation with the military. Nevertheless, the Brotherhood's general guide, Mohamed Badie said "we say that we respect and appreciate the army but the military council must be held accountable for any mistakes ... No one is above accountability.”

The first democratic polls for the lower house in Egypt were conducted without major obstacles. The upper house elections in February and eventually the presidential elections in June will complete the democratic transition, if the military council is ready to cede power.

Sources: The Daily News Egypt, NL-aid, The Washington Post, Reuters, Ahram online
Image Flickr: by Imagery by Pete