CAIRO, Jan 21: Egypt’s Islamists led by the once-banned Muslim Brotherhood clinched two thirds of seats in parliament in historic polls after the ouster of strongman Hosni Mubarak, official results showed on Saturday.

The Brotherhood that fought the election through the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) won 235 seats in the new People’s Assembly, or 47.18 per cent, electoral committee head Abdel Moez Ibrahim told a news conference, giving the final results from marathon polls.

The FJP secured 127 seats on party lists and its candidates won another 108 in first-past-the-post constituency votes.
The conservative Salafist Al Nur party came second with 121 seats or 24.29 per cent, and the liberal Wafd Party was third with nearly 9 per cent.

The liberal Egyptian Bloc – which includes the Free Egyptians party of telecoms magnate Naguib Sawiris who is facing trial on allegations of insulting Islam – came fourth with around 7 per cent. The landmark election was the first since Mr Mubarak’s ouster last February. It began in November and was carried out in three stages.

The People’s Assembly, or lower house, is made up of 498 elected MPs and 10 appointed by the ruling military which took over after Mr Mubarak quit. It will hold its first session on Monday.

“The train of democracy has entered the station and elected the first People’s Assembly since the January 25 revolution,” Mr Ibrahim said.

In Egypt’s complex electoral system, people cast ballots for party list candidates to make up two thirds of parliament, and directly vote for individual candidates for the remaining third.

Elections for parliament’s upper house, the Shura Council, are to begin later this month and conclude in February. Then the two chambers will choose a 100-member panel to draft a new constitution.

A new president will then be elected by June under the timetable set by the military rulers who announced that candidates could register for the presidency from April 15.

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has pledged to transfer power to civilian rule after a new president is elected but there is a widespread belief the SCAF will not do so.

The Brotherhood, Egypt’s best organised political movement, had been widely expected to triumph in the polls through the FJP.

But the surge by Al Nur and the high visibility of Salafi movement has raised fears among increasingly marginalised liberals about civil liberties and religious freedom.

The Brotherhood has repeatedly tried to reach out to Egyptians, particularly liberal parties.

Supreme guide Mohammed Badie said on Egyptian television on night that “the People’s Assembly alone will reflect the people to achieve their needs and safeguard their rights”.

He warned the military it would account for any violations and that parliament would be empowered to decide its budget.

“The elected parliament has the right to take to account all state institutions, including the military institution,” Mr Badie told the private Dream network, according to remarks published by the Brotherhood’s website.

Mr Badie said, however, that the army’s prestige “should not be undermined” and urged Egyptians to unite and join in the
grandiose celebrations being prepared by the military rulers to celebrate the revolution’s first anniversary.

But youth groups who were the driving force behind the protests that toppled the Mubarak regime said they would not join in the festivities because their demands for reform had not been met. A statement from the April 6 Movement says their
demands for social justice, freedom of expression and to restore the dignity of the Egyptian people have still not been met and corruption still prevails.

“We will take to the streets on January 25 to pursue the goals of the revolution, not to celebrate as some wish,” the statement added.—AFP