Cairo: Egypt's two main Islamist parties
claimed today to have together taken 62.2 per cent of the vote
in the final stage of a general election, maintaining their
lead in the overall contest.
The Freedom and Justice Party of the powerful Muslim
Brotherhood said on its website that it had garnered 35.2 per
cent of the party list vote in the polling in the final nine
governorates on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Al-Nur party of the even more conservative Salafists,
said it received 27 percent.
The two parties chalked up 65 per cent in the first two
phases of Egypt's first general election since the February
ouster of president Hosni Mubarak.
The elections for the lower house of parliament have
divided up the country geographically.
The last stage included the unstable Sinai region, which
lies along the border with Israel and the Gaza Strip and
includes the country's popular Red Sea tourist resorts.
Under the complex electoral system adopted after
Mubarak's ouster, second-round run-offs still have to be held
later this month where necessary for the one third of seats
that are decided in first-past-the-post constituencies.
From January 29, two-stage elections will then be held
for the upper house.
Once the new parliament has been sworn in, a commission
will be appointed to draft a new constitution before
presidential elections are held by the end of June.
PTI
First Published: Saturday, January 07, 2012, 22:10