By Toqa Ezzidin
Head of the Supreme Electoral Commission (SEC) Ayman Abbas announced in a press conference Friday that the first round of the parliamentary elections resulted in 273 candidates winning, both on party lists and independent candidates, state-owned media reported.
In the press conference held on Friday to announce the final results of the first round of parliamentary elections, Abbas said 213 independent candidates won, including five women and 12 representatives under the age of 35.
The Free Egyptians Party, founded by business tycoon Naguib Sawiris, came in first place with a total of 36 seats, followed by the Future of a Nation Party with a total of 21 seats.
The Al-Nour Party won eight seats, followed by the Conference Party with a total of five seats. The Homat Watan Party and the Egyptian Social Democratic Party won four and three seats respectively, privately-owned Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper reported.
Abbas said winners of parliamentary seats include 108 representatives with political party affiliations, 105 independents and 60 list representatives from the “For the Love of Egypt” list, to total 273 representatives.
According to Abbas, the run-offs for the first round took place in 99 polling stations, where 418 candidates competed over 209 seats.
Abbas announced that the participation rate in the first round of the parliamentary elections was 26%, noting that this is an “acceptable” rate, especially as there will be a second round.
Abbas also urged citizens to participate in the second round of elections, confirming that the violations in the runoffs of the first round “did not exceed 1%”. These violations included postponement in opening the polling stations or any other violations from the candidates.
He added that several international watchdogs praised the elections’ transparency, whereby the African Union Election Observation Mission (AUEOM) confirmed in its reports their confidence in the SEC and its objectivity and competency to successfully manage the elections.
Further, the Arab League delegation affirmed in its report the professionalism of the SEC and the importance of raising electoral awareness to enhance the integrity of the elections.
He added that a total of 367 appeals on the first round of the elections were rejected, supported by verdicts from the High Administrative Court, except for three appeals that have yet to receive verdicts.
Abbas concluded saying the Matruh governorate saw the highest voter turnout, with a rate of 33.45%, while the lowest was Alexandria with a rate of 14.38%.
