Pro-Sisi alliance biggest winner in 1st round of Egypt polls

Cairo: A political alliance loyal to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has emerged as a big winner in the first round of parliamentary polls through which he is seeking to tighten his grip on power over two years after he ousted his Islamist predecessor.

The official results of the first round of the parliamentary polls were announced yesterday with President Sisi's supporters winning in most seats.

The electoral committee announced the allocation of 273 seats after the end of the first round run-offs held on Tuesday and Wednesday in 14 Egyptian governorates.

The first round of polls had been held in Egypt earlier this month with the runoffs taking place this week.

The results showed that "For the Love of Egypt", an alliance of independents and political parties that are being coordinated by former intelligence general Sameh Seif El-Yazal and supporting Sisi, won all the 60 seats allocated for electoral lists in the runoffs, Ayman Abbas, the head of the Electoral Committee, said.

The number of individual candidates who won the first round of the elections is 213, including five women and 10 young men less than 35-years-old, Abbas said.

The turnout in the run-offs of Egypt's Parliamentary Elections was 21.7 percent, Abbas said.

He said during a news conference that more than 5 million out of over 25 million voters had cast their ballot in the run-offs. Among those voters were 19,835 foreign-based Egyptians living in 139 countries.

The turnout in the run-off was less than the 26.69 percent who voted in the first round earlier this month.

Independent candidates won 105 seats of 273 seats and 108 seats were won by candidates affiliated to various parties. However, the committee said that the final results will be announced after the second round.

The second stage of the Parliamentary Elections, from November 22-23, will see polling in the remaining 13 governorates.

Egypt has been without a Parliament since the previous Parliament, elected in late 2011, was dissolved in June 2012 after a court ruled electoral laws in place to be unconstitutional. President Sisi currently holds legislative powers.

Once a Parliament is elected its members will have to vote on all laws issued by Sisi and his predecessor Adly Mansour.