CAIRO: Islamists who swept to victory in the first stage of Egypt’s parliamentary elections were looking to extend their winning streak in a second round of voting on Wednesday.
Some 18.8 million Egyptians are eligible to cast their ballots in this round of the first legislative polls since a popular uprising ended Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year-rule in February.
The powerful Muslim Brotherhood, which clinched the most seats in the opening phase through its Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), was eager to sustain the momentum.
"For a strong parliament, which meets the demands, the concerns and the priorities of the people, let’s continue," the party said on its official Facebook page.
Hundreds lined up outside polling stations in a third of Egypt’s provinces, where voting kicked off at 8:00 am.
At the Mohammed Qureib school in the working class Bahr Al-Aatham neighborhood, soldiers were letting voters through five or six at a time.
A policeman admonished the voters not to campaign for candidates or talk about their preferences, but some were eager to explain why they were voting for the FJP.
"They have political experience and they are moderate," said Abdel Halim, a government employee.
Another voter said, however, the Brotherhood would damage tourism.
"They’re going to ruin it and they’ll ban going to the beach," said another voter.
Abdel Halim scorned him: "You want to sit on the beach. We want to work for our country," highlighting a source of tension between Islamists and secularists.
The election’s first stage on November 28 saw Islamist parties crush their liberal rivals, mirroring a pattern established in Tunisia and Morocco following a string of popular uprisings across the region.
At the Ramses School, near the ancient Pyramids of Giza, hundreds waited to cast their ballots, some for the first time ever.
Sayyed, a 26-year-old chef, said he would vote for the Al-Nour party, which represents the Salafi movement, a fundamentalist brand of Islam.
"It’s the best party. I’m very happy because it’s the first time I vote," he said.
Voters are required to cast three ballots: two for individual candidates and one for a party or coalition, in the assembly’s 498 seats.
Parties affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood and the ultra-conservative Salafi movements won 65 percent of all votes, trouncing liberal parties who managed 29.3 percent.
The second round takes place in Cairo’s twin city of Giza; Beni Sueif south of the capital; the Nile Delta provinces of Menufiya, Sharqiya and Beheira; the canal cities of Ismailiya and Suez and the southern cities Sohag and Aswan.
The Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) said it won 32 out of 56 individual seats contested in the first phase of the multi-stage parliamentary polls, with four seats going to party allies.
In a separate party vote, which will see more than 100 seats distributed, the FJP won 36.6 percent while the Al-Nour party came second with 24.4 percent.
The Muslim Brotherhood had been widely forecast to triumph as the country’s most organized political group, well known after decades of charitable work and its endurance through repeated crackdowns by the Mubarak regime.
But the good showing from Salafi groups was a surprise, raising fears of a more conservative and overtly religious 498-member new parliament.
The Muslim Brotherhood has been at pains to stress its commitment to multi-party democracy, inclusiveness and civil liberties, while also advocating the application of sharia law.
Nevertheless, the prospect of an Islamist-dominated parliament raises fears among liberals about religious freedom in a country with the Middle East’s largest Christian minority.
Much remains unclear about how the new parliament will function and whether it will be able to resolve a stand-off with the armed forces over how much power they will retain under a new constitution to be written next year.
After the voting for the lower house of parliament, which will end in January, Egyptians will then elect an upper house in a further three rounds of polls.
