Islamist Parties Reign in Egypt's Second Round of Elections
As expected, Islamist parties swept victoriously through the second round of Egypt's parliamentary elections with a combined 70 percent lead, with the Muslim Brotherhood dominating as it did previously in the second round of voting.
The two leading parties include the Muslim Brotherhood, which won the second round with 39 percent of the vote, and the fundamentalist Salafi Al Nour party, with 31 percent of the vote.
This shows that the two competing Islamic parties are evening out their scores. In the first round of elections, the Brotherhood held far more sway with 45 percent of the vote, while the Al Nour party trailed behind at 25 percent.
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The second round of elections also saw a greater turnout than the first at 60 percent, as estimated by the High Elections Commission.
Monday also marks the fourth day of clashes between military forces and protesters. The clashes were ignited Friday when a small sit-in protest was broken up by military forces. The protesters were continuing their call for a speedy transfer of power from the Supreme Council of Armed Forces to a democratic government.
Ten people have died and over 400 people injured as a result of surmounting violence from the weekend’s clashes.
Although the Muslim Brotherhood has previously maintained an amicable, convenient relationship with the ruling military council, it condemned the violence, accusing the army of using brute force.
“[The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces] tries to create new crises as the time for power transfer to an elected civilian government gets closer,” said Muslim Brotherhood party member Mohamed Beltagy in a statement.
Although many fear a ruling Islamist party will incorporate Shariah law into legal practice, it is evident by civilian votes and protests that the people prefer any form of democracy, whether it be Islamic-led or secular, to the current military government.
