Opposition suffers historic defeat

Legal or outlawed, the opposition suffered one of its worst defeats since President Mubarak came to the presidency in 1981

Opposition parties and the Muslim Brotherhood suffered their worst defeat in many years, while the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) scored a sweeping victory in a turbulent first round of the People Assembly's elections held on 28 November.
With a record number of candidates, 5,033 competing for 508 seats in the People's Assembly - Egypt's lower-house parliament - and a very modest turnout, officially set a 25 per cent, the NDP, according to initial estimates, won 170 seats in the first round.
Those elected include at least 80 NDP members of the outgoing Assembly who successfully retained their seats. The list of NDP candidates who emerged victorious include nine cabinet ministers; speaker of the People's Assembly Fathi Sorour; head of President Mubarak's staff Zakaria Azmi. NDP businessmen who made it to the Assembly in the first round included iron and steel magnate Ahmed Ezz, NDP's secretary for organizational affairs; industrialist Mohamed Abul-Enein, a member of NDP's secretariat-general and chairman of parliament's industry committee; and Tarek Talaat Mostafa, chairman of parliament's housing committee and brother of construction magnate Hisham Talaat Mostafa who is currently serving a 15-year sentance for murder.
Several of the NDP's woman candidates competing for the 64 quota of seats reserved for women, have also won. The most prominent of these are Zeinab Radwan, deputy speaker of the People's Assembly; Madiha Khattab, chairperson of NDP's secretariat for family and population affairs; Mo'mena Kamel, a professor of medicine; and Hayat Abdoun, a TV presenter.
A number of prominent NDP candidates, however, lost in the first round battle. Among these are three chairmen of committees in the outgoing Assembly: Mostafa Al-Said, chairman of the economic affairs committee and a former economy minister; Sherif Omar, chairman of the Health Committee; and Farouk Taha, chairman of the National Defence and Security Committee.
Opposition parties, notably the leftist Tagammu and Nasserist parties, won just one seat, while two liberal-oriented parties, the Wafd and Ghad, won just four seats (two for the Wafd and one for the Ghad). Another low-profile party – the Social Justice Party – surprised all by winning a seat. The candidates of twelve marginal political parties failed to win a single seat. Topping the list of leftist and Nasserist opposition losers are Mostafa Bakri, the editor of the weekly newspaper of Al-Osbou; Hamdeen Sabahi, the founder of Al-Karama (dignity) party; Gamal Zahran, a Karama party member and a professor of political science in Suez Canal University; and Al-Badri Farghali, a veteran member of the leftist Tagammu party.
Six Tagammu candidates, however, will make it to the second round. Most prominent of these are Diaa Rashwan, a senior analyst with the Al-Ahram st and a prominent analyst on Islamist movements, in the upper Egypt governorate of Qena; and Mohamed Abdel-Aziz Shaaban, a veteran Tagammu MP, in east Cairo's district of Hadayek El-Qubba.
Although recurrent, the failure of the Nasserist party's 44 candidates to win a single seat remained a surprise. The Nasserist party also failed to secure a single seat in the 2005 elections.
The Wafd party was dealt perhaps the biggest, and most surprising, loss. Out of 222 candidates, just three won seats. The most prominent of these is Saffir Nour, a former ambassador, in the Giza governorate's district of Dokki. Other high-profile candidates who lost are Mounir Fakhri Abdel-Nour, the Wafd's secretary-general; Taher Abou-Zeid, a former national team football player; and Samira Ahmed, a movie actress. A list of Wafd candidates, however, will make it to the second round. Topping this list are Fouad Badrawi, the Wafd's deputy chairman from Daqahliyya governorate's district of “Nabarouh”; Mostafa Sherdi, a journalist and the Wafd's media spokesman, in Port Said; Mohamed Abdel-Alim Dawoud, a journalist, in Kafr El-Sheikh's district of Fiwa; and Christian Roman Catholic business tycoon Rami Lakah, in north Cairo's district of Shubra.
Numerous high-profile independent candidates also suffered defeats at the hands of the NDP. The most prominent among these is Gamila Ismail, a former TV presenter and the ex-wife of political activist Ayman Nour.
The outlawed group of the Muslim Brotherhood received a deafening blow. In the first round, its 130 candidates failed to win a single seat. The complete defeat of the Muslim Brotherhood in round first took many by surprise, and the Brotherhood announced that the first round vote had been rigged in favor of NDP candidates. The group's Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie said that “the group expected that there would be a lot of fraud in the election, but it did not expect it to be on such a large scale.”NDP officials vehemently denied charges of fraud, insisting that the excellent selection of their candidates, the high performance of their election campaigns, and their plans designed to mobilise the party's voting bloc were all key elements in ensuring success for the party in the first round.
Topping the list of Brotherhood losers are Saad El-Husseini, a member of the group's guidance office and a former MP for Al-Mahallah Al-Kobra in the Nile Delta governorate of Gharbiya. Alexandria, the Brotherhood's number one fortress, will see just one of the group's candidates making it to the second round: Mahmoud Attiya in the district of Qarmooz. Initial statistics show, however, that between 12 to 14 of Brotherhood candidates will go through to the run-offs. Among these are Tarek Qotb, in Mansoura, the capital of Daqahliyya governorate; Alameddin Al-Sakhawi, in the district of Bassioun in Gharbiya governorate; El-Sayed Askar, in Tanta, the capital of Gharbiya governorate; and Ain Shams University professorMohamed El-Beltagi in the Qalioubiya governorate's district of Shubra Al-Kheima.
With a clearly sweeping victory for the ruling party, the second-round competition next Sunday will primarily see NDP candidates vying for seats against rival NDP candidates. The most ferocious battles are expected in Gharbiya governorate's Tanta district where Ahmed Shubeir, a former football player, and Yasser El-Guindi, a businessman, are NDP candidates competing against each other.
In Shubra El-Khaima's first disrict in Qalioubiya governorate, the two NDP candidates: Abdel-Mohsen Salama, an Ahram journalist, and Eid Salem Moussa, a doctor and a former NDP MP, will butt heads in what is expected to be a close call. Fierce battles will be fought between NDP and opposition and Brotherhood candidates. Among these is the battle between Rami Lakah, a Wafdist businessman, and Fadi Al-Habashi, a former state security officer and the NDP's candidate in north Cairo's district of Shubra. In the Nile-delta governorate of Daqahliyya's district of Nabarouh, Fouad Badraw, the Wafd's deputy chairman, and Tawfik Okasha, an NDP candidate and a TV presenter, will compete. In Daqahliyya's district of Atmida, Abdel-Rahman Baraka, a businessman and NDP candidate, will be fighting a tight campaign battle against Mortada Mansour, an independent and the controversial former chairman of Al-Zamalek sporting club.