ATUL ANEJA

2.12.2011

Counting of votes is in progress in Luxor, Egypt, after the first phase of the parliamentary elections on Tuesday. Muslim Brotherhood's political party has in many of the constituencies solidly outpaced its rivals. Photo: AP

Islamist parties, set to win the majority of seats in the first round of the Egyptian parliamentary elections, have shifted into top gear to negate fears that their country could evolve into a theocracy.

The Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) could end up winning around 40 per cent of the votes during the two-day poll, which wrapped up on Tuesday. The Al Nour coalition formed by the more doctrinaire Salafists is running in second place behind FJP in several constituencies.

“I expect Islamists [FJP and the Al Nour coalition] to win at least 65 per cent of seats in the first round,” said Diaa Rashwan, an expert on Islamic movements and head of the Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. In the first round of the three-phased election, nine of 27 governorates went to the polls to elect deputies to the Lower House of Parliament.

Sources inside the Muslim Brotherhood said the FJP had done exceptionally well in Fayoum, south of the capital, and had also distinguished itself in the Cairo and Red Sea governorates. The Al Nour coalition offered stiff competition to the FJP in the governorates of Alexandria and Kafr al-Sheikh governorates, which have become Salafi strongholds.

The spectacular performance of the Islamists has jolted their secular and liberal opponents. “Egypt will get into its darkest era ever if the Brotherhood reached the Parliament and then assumed power, it will be the worst epoch ever … I think the country will suffer as long as the Brotherhood represents the majority,” author Gamal El-Gitani was quoted as saying by the Al Ahram website.

Analysts point out that the result has alarmed minorities such as the Coptic Christians, as well as leftists and secularists. Women activists, fearing the imposition of a dress code and Sharia law, are also wary of the Muslim Brothers' vibrant assertion at the polls.

But Islamists, including those belonging to the Al Nour coalition, are emphatic in dismissing these fears as groundless, which, they say, result from the complete ignorance of doctrinal evolution that Islamist parties have undergone over the past 60 years. “Some people are promoting the idea that Islamists would diminish women's rights and freedom of speech, damage the country's relationship with Israel and also prevent non-Islamic forces from being politically involved. That's among other allegations which are baseless,” said Essam Darbala of the Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiyya, an Al Nour alliance partner. In an earlier statement, Essam El-Erian, Vice Chairman of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), reassured minority groups by saying all Egyptians had equal rights. While calming fears of Egypt's possible slide into theocracy, echoing, however faintly, the 1979 Islamic revolution of Iran, Mr. El-Erian, on Thursday, served notice to the military to give way to elected representatives . In an op-ed in theGuardian , and was posted on the Muslim Brotherhood website, he said: “It is impossible for millions of Egyptians to go to the polls and vote for a Parliament without authority. So the military council must now announce the handover of legislative powers to Parliament, and the caretaker government must present any new legislation to the Parliament for approval.” He added that the military council “must also affirm that any government that does not enjoy the confidence of Parliament will not be able to remain in office and that the formation and survival of a government will be decided by the Parliament's majority”. Buoyed by the trends, he urged youth protesting at Tahrir Square to adopt “constitutional mechanisms while maintaining calm in the constituencies and Egyptian street”.

Islamists gain in Egypt elections

ATUL ANEJA

1.12.2011

Early counting in Egypt's parliamentary elections appears to confirm the region-wide trend of Islamists — moderate, hard-line and some who are yet to be fully tested — emerging as the most potent force in the aftermath of the Arab Spring.

Following the first phase of elections which ended on Tuesday, counting in Luxor, Cairo and elsewhere is showing that the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) has solidly outpaced its rivals in many of the constituencies.

The ultra-conservative Al Nour party is also doing well in some districts. It is either leading over the other contenders or is in second place to the FJP.

Except in a few constituencies, non-religious parties are, so far, heavily trailing the Islamists, who are not contesting as a unified bloc. The FJP and Al Nour are not pre-poll allies, though the latter is open to participation in a coalition. The Al Nour comprises mainly Salafists, who seek to recreate a society based on pristine Islam.

Hazy picture

The electoral picture, however hazy, that is emerging in Egypt, seems to amplify a political trend fast gathering momentum in West Asia and North Africa. Moderate Islamists have emerged as the most prominent political force in Tunisia and Morocco following recent elections. An Islamist assertion is also visible in Libya in the aftermath of the killing in October of Muammar Qadhafi. Some analysts say an Islamist political resurgence through the ballot can be traced to 2002, when the Justice and Development Party (AKP), the architect of the so-called “Turkish model” of new-age Islam, triumphed in Turkey.

Despite the AKP's Islamist roots, Turkey remains secular and has deeply engaged with moderate Islamists in Tunisia and sections of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.

In Luxor — famed for its Pharonic-era architecture — where nearly 80 per cent of the counting has been completed, the FJP appears to be in the lead, closely followed by the Al Nour Party, the website of the Al Masry Al Youm daily reported. A somewhat similar trend prevails in Helwan where the FJP is followed by a triangular contest among the Al-Nour, the Egyptian Bloc and the Conservative Party for the second place. In Cairo's eighth constituency, the Al Nour and the FJP are vying for the top position.

However, the Islamists seem to have been challenged in Port Said, where a Leftist candidate has triumphed over an Al Nour candidate. Apart for voting along party lines, Egyptian voters have, on a separate ballot paper, balloted for candidates who represented specific social classes.

Subdued appearance

With Egyptians voting in droves, especially on Tuesday, and now awaiting results, Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the Egyptian revolt and recent scene of heavy clashes, has acquired an unusually subdued appearance. On Tuesday, there were heavy clashes between protesters and street vendors, which injured 108 people. Protesters said the regime had deployed armed provocateurs to wipe out the uprising in the fog of the elections.

On Twitter, elder statesman Mohamed ElBaradei wrote: “Thugs are now attacking the protesters in Tahrir. A regime that cannot protect its citizens has failed to carry out its main job.”

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