Egypt's Elections: The Outcome (Howeidy)

Claimed footage of vote-rigging arrangements by supporters of ruling National Democratic Party in Alexandria:

Amira Howeidy of Ahram Online summarises the state of the new Egyptian Parliament after yesterday's second-round voting:

In the parliamentary election’s second round, preliminary results indicate that the NDP [ruling National Democratic Party] has swept 96 percent of the available seats.

One Muslim Brotherhood member, Magdy Ashour, appears to have won the group’s only parliamentary seat, according to unofficial preliminary results of yesterday’s run-offs. The Wafd has won three, and the left-wing Tagammu another three.

Both the Brotherhood and Wafd had pulled out from the elections two days after the 28 November elections last Sunday, where the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) clinched 95 percent of the seats. The two opposition groups cited “blatant” and “widespread” rigging in favour of the NDP, which won 209 out of parliament’s 508 seats in the first round, out of just 217 that were designated.

In yesterday’s run-offs, the NDP ran against itself in 114 out of 166 constituencies. It is expected to control more than 90 per cent of the 2010-2015 parliament.

The Wafd and Brotherhood’s boycott of the run-offs did not exclude them from the second round as their respective candidates were listed anyway. The Wafd’s nine run-off candidates and the MB’s 26 were technically competing in the second round yesterday.

Despite pressure from its members to tow the line of the MB and Wafd, the left-wing Tagammu party refused to pull out from the elections.

From preliminary results today, it appears that the Wafd will hold a five-seat representation in the incoming parliament, Tagammu four, the Ghad party one, the Social Justice one, and the Brotherhood one, making a total of just twelve seats for the opposition.

The Brotherhood which won 88 seats in the outgoing parliament (or 20 percent of the seats) scored zero in the 28 November vote.