K.S. Rajan (24
Jan 2012)
"ISLAMISTS WIN"
Egypt's Islamists win 75 percent of parliament
CAIRO (AP) - Final results on Saturday showed that Islamist
parties won nearly three-quarters of the seats in parliament in
Egypt's first elections since the ouster of authoritarian
president Hosni Mubarak, according to election officials and
political groups.
Islamists vow to bring Sharia law to Egypt now that they control
it's government
The Islamist domination of Egypt's parliament has worried
liberals and even some conservatives about the religious tone of
the new legislature, which will be tasked with forming a
committee to write a new constitution. It remains unclear
whether the constitution will be written while the generals who
took power after Mubarak's fall are still in charge, or rather
after presidential elections this summer.
In the vote for the lower house of parliament, a coalition led
by the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood won 47 percent, or 235
seats in the 498-seat parliament. The ultraconservative Al-Nour
Party was second with 25 percent, or 125 seats.
The Salafi Al-Nour, which was initially the biggest surprise of
the vote, wants to impose strict Islamic law in Egypt, while the
more moderate Brotherhood, the country's best-known and
organized party, has said publicly that it does not seek to
force its views about an appropriate Islamic lifestyle on
Egyptians.
The two parties are unlikely to join forces because of
ideological differences, but both have a long history of charity
work in Egypt's vast poverty-stricken neighborhoods and
villages, giving them a degree of legitimacy and popularity
across the country in areas where newer liberal parties have yet
to get a foothold.
Muslim Brotherhood lawmaker Mohammed el-Beltagi said the new
parliament represents "the wish of the Egyptian people."
Egypt's elections commission acknowledged that there were voting
irregularities, but the vote has been hailed as the country's
freest and fairest in living memory.
The liberals who spearheaded the revolt that toppled Mubarak
struggled to organize and connect with a broader public in the
vote, and did not fair as well as the Islamists.
The Egyptian bloc, which is headed by a party founded by
Christian telecom tycoon Naguib Sawiris, said it won 9 percent
of the seats in parliament. Egypt's oldest secular party, the
Wafd, also won around 9 percent. source- My Way News