Islamists win 65% of votes in first round of Egyptian elections

The results of the first round of voting in the Egyptian elections have seen Islamist parties securing 65 per cent of the votes cast. The Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party won 36.62% of the votes, the Salafist Al-Nour Party took 24.36% and the centrist Al-Wasat got 4.27%. The figures were obtained by AFP from an official of the High Election Commission.

Judge Yosry Abdel Karim, Secretary General of the Commission, said that he will not disclose at this stage the number of seats obtained by each list. That figure is expected after the third round of the election has taken place in January 2012. A total of 9.7 million votes were cast in the first round, which covered 9 of Egypt’s twenty-nine provinces: Cairo, Alexandria, Assiut, Fayoum, Damietta, Red Sea, Luxor, Kafr El-Sheikh and Port Said.

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Egypt’s electoral system is complicated; it mixes a proportional list, according to which two-thirds of the Egyptian parliament’s members will be selected, and the districts’ individual race, to which one-third of the parliamentary seats have been allocated.

The runoff for the seats allocated to the districts’ individual system will take place on Monday, with 52 seats up for election; the results of four seats were determined in the first round.