Egypt's opposition wins a handful of seats in parliamentary run-off

Mon, 06 Dec 2010

Cairo - Egypt's opposition parties won a handful of seats in the lower house of parliament, after some members ignored a call to boycott Sunday's run-off vote, preliminary election results showed Monday.

One member of the leading opposition Muslim Brotherhood, won one of the 508 seats in the People's Assembly, while four members each from the al-Wafd and the al-Tagammu parties won seats, according to media reports.

The Brotherhood and several smaller opposition parties refused to take part in the run-off after making a poor showing in the first round. The Brotherhood, which has 88 seats in the outgoing parliament, failed to win a single seat in the first round.. They accused the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) of fraud.

But several opposition candidates continued campaigning for the run-off despite the boycott.

President Hosny Mubarak's NDP won 209 of the 508 contested seats in the first round, and is expected to make similar gains in the run-off. Final results are expected Wednesday.

The run-off election was marked by a low voter turnout and saw renewed allegations of fraud from the opposition.

The National Council for Human Rights, a quasi-governmental body, reported that hundreds of complaints had been filed by voters throughout the day, with some claiming they were turned away at polling stations.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/356757,handful-seats-parliamentary-run-off.html.