OnIslam & News Agencies
Wednesday, 07 December 2011 12:22
The FJP has won 34 individual seats in the run-off vote of the first round.
CAIRO – Early results of Egypt elections’ runoff have shown Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party as the biggest winner in individual seats, followed by the Salafi Al-Nour party.
"The FJP has won 34 individual seats in the run-off vote of the first round out of a total of 45 seats contested by FJP individual candidates," the FJP source told Reuters on Wednesday, December 7.
In the runoff, 104 candidates contested in the run-off. The FJP said it had a candidate in 45 of them, while Al-Nour has 26.
Salafis, who were the surprise runners-up in the opening stage of the ballot, won 6 seats out of 26 candidates who were contesting in the runoff.
The remaining seats were divided between Al-Wafd party, 1 seat, the liberal Justice party 1 seat and the Egyptian Bloc, 1 seat.
Other four seats were won by individual candidates, two of whom were remnants of the dissolved Hosni Mubarak’s once ruling National Democratic Party.
The FJP already secured two clear-cut wins for its individual candidates last week and its party list won 36.6 percent of valid votes, with the Salafi party al-Nour's list second at 24.4 percent.
The FJP proportional lists and individual candidates represented 11 parties who are members of the Brotherhood-led Democratic Alliance.
A total of 56 individual seats were contested by all parties in the first round of the election, with others assigned to party lists.
The vote was the first of three election stages being held over six weeks. Two more rounds follow, with the last run-off set for mid-January.
Under a complex system, two-thirds of the 498 elected lower house seats go proportionately to party lists, with the rest going to individual candidates, who must win more than 50 percent of votes in the first round to avoid a run-off.
The results in Egypt fit a pattern established in Tunisia and Morocco where Islamists have also gained in elections as they benefit from the new freedoms brought by the pro-democracy movements of the Arab Spring.
Interim Government
Following several delays, newly-picked prime minister, Kamal al-Ganzouri, announced a new cabinet with many incumbents keeping their portfolios.
"We can't leave security and the economy like this," Ganzouri told a media conference, Agence France Presse (AFP) reported on Wednesday.
"The political roadmap is now clear" -- leading to a full transfer of control to the new civilian leaders from the army which took power after Mubarak stepped down, he added.
Ganzouri said his "government of national salvation" would concentrate on Egypt's security and its economy.
He also called on the country's political forces to pull together to help resolve the country's problems.
"I ask for all the political movements, all the parties, and every individual to come together for the good of the country," he said.
Declaring filling all portfolios, the prime minister kept the name of the powerful interior ministry a secret till the official announcement and swearing in.
State television on Tuesday confirmed Ganzouri's appointment of Mumtaz al-Saeed as finance minister.
It added that Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr would be among the Cabinet members remaining.
It also said Planning and International Cooperation Minister Faiza Abu el-Naga and Electricity and Energy Minister Hassan Younes -- who both served under Mubarak -- were also expected to stay on.
El-Ganzouri himself had served under Mubarak as prime minister from 1996 to 1999.
The announcement of the government was postponed from Sunday to Wednesday, Ganzouri said, because of difficulties in appointing a new interior minister hours before the parliamentary election's first stage run-offs.
Ganzouri added that the army would issue a decree "this evening or tomorrow" to hand the premier presidential powers "except those concerning the judiciary and armed forces", Reuters reported.
Related Links:
Egyptians Vote in Election RunoffEgypt Votes in Post-Mubarak Elections
Egypt Islamists Urge Rivals to Accept Vote
Egypt Vote…Islamists to Fare Well
Egypt Vote…Will Islamists Rise? (Folder)
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