A number of Egyptian public figures made it to the runoff on individual seats, according to preliminary results calculated for the second phase of parliamentary elections held in 13 governorates.
The governorates include the capital Cairo, Daqahleya, Gharbeya, Qaliubiya, Menufiya, Kafr El-Sheikh, Ismailia, Suez, Sharqeya, Port Said, North Sinai, South Sinai and Damietta.
The parliamentary law stated that candidates competing on individual seats must obtain a majority of 50+1% votes to win. In case such results are not achieved, runoff elections take place between candidates who obtained the highest scores.
The number of candidates in the runoff in each constituency must be double the number of seats allocated to the constituency. Most public figures ahead of their competitors in the elections are independent candidates.
Mortada Mansour, head of Al-Zamalek Football Club, swept off elections in Meet Ghamr constituency in Daqahleya governorate with 71,038 votes, compared to 34,321 to Badawy Helal, candidate of Al-Wafd Party.
This is according to the general electoral committee in Daqahleya quoted by state-media, which also reported that the remaining candidates to enter a second round of elections are five independents and one candidate from the Future of Nation Party.
This places a total of eight candidates in the runoff, as the Meet Ghamr constituency is allotted four individual seats in the parliament.
Mansour’s son Ahmed Mortada Mansour won one of two seats in the runoff elections of the first phase in the Dokki/Agouza constituency.
Additionally in the same governorate, in Talkha constituency, Al-Faraeen TV channel owner Tawfiq Okasha seems to be in intense competition with former Wafdist leader Fouad Badrawy and another independent candidate named Bassem Falayfel. There are three seats in total in that constituency.
Moreover, pro-state film director Khaled Youssef also told TV channels Monday night that he advanced in the Kafr Shukr constituency in the governorate of Qaliubiya, therefore winning the only seat allocated to the constituency “by more than 50%”. In total though, Qaliubiya has 25 individual seats in the parliament.
In Cairo, Hafez Abu Seada, head of the independent Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR) and member of the Conservatives Party, reportedly succeeded in the Maadi constituency, which has one individual seat.
Also in Cairo’s Boulaq constituency, with one parliamentary seat, runoff elections will probably take place between pro-Mubarak’s regime candidate Mohamed Hamouda and Free Egyptians Party (FEP) candidate Mohamed El-Massoud.
