Egypt banned party support surges

Egypt banned party support surges
Egypt’s governing National Democratic Party (NDP) has won 68% of the seats in the first round of parliamentary elections held over the past two weeks.
But independents standing on behalf of the officially banned Muslim Brotherhood have more than doubled their seats in the People’s Assembly.

The Brotherhood is now confirmed as the largest opposition force in Egypt.

Justice Minister Mahmoud Abu al-Layl announced the results two days after a round of run-off voting on Tuesday.

President Hosni Mubarak’s NDP won 75 seats in the eight governorates contested, while independent candidates allied to it won 45 seats.

Islamist success

The Muslim Brotherhood secured 34 seats, 19 more than it holds in the outgoing parliament.

The Brotherhood doubled its total of MPs even before voting has taken place in the remaining two-thirds of the country.

The BBC’s correspondent in Cairo, Heba Saleh, says that if the group maintains the same success rate, it could control a fifth of the seats in parliament.

That would probably raise questions about the government’s insistence on denying it any form of legal status, our correspondent says.

Meanwhile, the opposition National Front for Political and Constitutional Change won six seats.

The front includes the Wafd Party, the Nasirite Party, the al-Tagammu Party, and the Egyptian Movement for Change, or Kifaya.

Mr Abu al-Layl said that the turnout for the first round had been 24%.

Two further rounds are scheduled to be held in Egypt’s 18 other governorates.

The second round, which includes the northern city of Alexandria, will take place on 20 November; the third round will go ahead on 1 December.