Three-hundred-and-forty-two candidates in Egypt's parliamentary elections have been officially named as members of parliament (MPs). TheFor the Love of Egypt electoral list had the biggest win, grabbing all 120 contested party-based list seats,and another 222 candidates won the majority of the votes in their individual system constituencies in the outgoing first stage and the ongoing second stage, according to Ahram Online estimations. The runoffs for the second stage will take place for Egyptians abroad on 30 November and 1 December, and for resident Egyptians on 1-2 December, as 426 candidates are contesting 213 seats; 239 of the individual system candidates are running as independents and the remaining 187 are party affiliated. The runoffs are taking place in 13 governorates, most notably Cairo, Qalioubiya, Daqahliya, Menoufiya, North Sinai and South Sinai. The first phase took place in October in 14 governorates including Giza, Alexandria, Minya, Sohag and the Red Sea. The Free Egyptians Party, founded by business tycoon Naguib Sawiris, has the highest number of candidates represented in the coming round with 45 candidates, followed by the Wafd Party, Egypt's oldest liberal party, which has 43 candidates in the runoffs, while the newly established Future of a Homeland party has 42 candidates. The Salafist Nour Party, which is facing an electoral downturn compared to its performance in the 2012 elections, has eight candidates in the round. There are 62 candidates representing other parties, most notably the Protectors of the Homeland Party, which has three candidates in the round, while the Conference Party, founded by former foreign secretary Amr Moussa, has only two. Some offshoots of theformer ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) also managed to make it to the runoffs. Some prominent independent candidates made it to the round, including Mortada Mansour, a controversial lawyer and chairman of Cairo's Zamalek Club, as well as Tawfik Okasha, a controversial TV host. Eight candidates out of nine who secured seats for the individual system for the first leg in the second stage were independents, while the remaining one is a member of the Wafd Party. The For the Love of Egypt list won 60 list seats in the second stage, after contesting 45 seats in the Cairo, South and Middle Delta constituency and another 15 seats in East Delta. The pro-Sisi list is led by some former state officials including Major General Sameh Seif El-Yazal, a former military intelligence officer, andMohamed El-Orabi, a former foreign minister, as well as Osama Heikal, a former information minister. According to the High Elections Committee (HEC), the turnout in the first round of the second stage of the polls was 29.83 percent, comparing to a total turnoutof 26.5 percent in the two legs of the first stage. The HEC will announce the final results on 4 December. ## ## ## http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/171865.aspx
