According to preliminary announced results announced by judges across some of 14 governorates where elections took place Sunday and Monday, there will to be runoff elections in most constituencies, often exceeding five candidates in one constituency.
Individual candidates will take 448 seats in the upcoming parliament, while electoral lists are only competing over 120 seats.
Early results reveal that independent candidates outnumbered political party members for individual seats, yet it was observed that political parties selected their areas of competition, and a few less popular small political parties are expected to make it to the second round.
In Minya, for instance, there are nine constituencies and a total of nearly 2.5 million voters. Al-Nour Party competed with six candidates, but none of them made it to the run-offs.
On average, in every constituency there will be a second round for five to six candidates. Some political parties seem to have achieved success over independent candidates in Minya, with nearly 27 candidates entering the run-offs, in comparison to nearly 20 independents.
The Free Egyptians Party (FEP) led by business tycoon Naguib Sawiris had a strong presence in the governorate, with sometimes more than one candidate going for a second round in several constituencies. It said in total of all governorates, 65 of its members were going to a second round.
Moreover, the Future of a Nation Party, led by Mohamed Badran and known for having the youngest candidates aged between 25 and 35, also made it to the run-offs, although generally not among top four candidates, and behind in vote numbers.
Al-Wafd Party only made it with two candidates who obtained the highest or second highest votes in their constituencies, but it was observed that some small, less known political parties, such as the Conference Party, also scored well.
In Matruh, there are two constituencies, and eight candidates are expected to make it to the second round in total, including one of two Al-Nour Party candidates, who ranked fourth with nearly 6,000 votes, in comparison to the first independent candidate with nearly 8,000 votes.
Independent candidates also came ahead of political parties in the governorate of Beheira, which has 10 constituencies and an average of six to eight candidates competing in the run-off per constituency.
However, there appears to be intense competition between the Future of a Nation Party and Al-Nour Party, with both parties having several candidates in different constituencies. There also a few candidates from other parties, like the Al-Wafd Party, the Democratic Peace Party, Misr Baladi, the National Movement Party, and the Conference Party.
Alexandria, where bets on the Salafist current were high, at least from Al-Nour Party’s point of view, the party lost on the lists to “For the Love of Egypt”. On the individual seats, there are at least 11 independent candidates in the run-offs, in seven out of 10 constituencies, with little presence from political parties.
The Al-Nour Party, the Future of a Nation and the FEP have three candidates each in the run-offs, and parties like the National Movement, Al-Wafd, Misr Baladi and Conference parties have one each. In the constituency of Moharaam Bek, son of leftist former parliamentary member Abou El-Ezz El-Hariry has only one rival candidate in the runoff, with 23,891 votes for him, against 12,454 for his rival.
In many governorates, the count is not yet finalised; however, new parties such as the FEP, and the Future of a Nation seem to be ahead of the historical Al-Wafd, also amid an absence of leftist parties, and a weak presence of social parties.
The Egyptian Social Democratic Party (ESDP) said five of its members were expected to run for a second electoral round in Luxor, Assiut, Giza, and Sohag. The party is not on any electoral lists.
