By Viola Fahmy, Aswat Masriya Much has been said about Egypt’s coming parliament, with pundits mostly projecting a mass return of old regime figures accounting for almost half the number of candidates contesting the race. But the results of the first round of phase one of Egypt’s parliamentary elections indicate changes to the country’s complex political scene, with new faces replacing household names and seasoned political parties. Of all 2,548 candidates who ran as individuals in the first phase of the poll, only four won majority seats. The winners of the remaining 222 seats will have to be decided in run-offs to be held from Oct. 26-28 in Egypt and abroad. Al-Nour Party Lags Behind Although the Salafi al-Nour party had reaped 22 percent of seats in the 2012 parliament, the ultra-conservatives failed to rake in a single seat in this round, despite fielding 90 candidates and one electoral list in the West Delta region. While the list has lost irrevocably, however, more than two dozen al-Nour candidates will be running as individuals having qualified for run-offs. In the 2011/2012 electoral race al-Nour was the second largest bloc in parliament, second…
Copts Shine as Salafists Fall in Egypt’s Parliamentary Elections
October 23, 2015
