Qena--The announcement of the preliminary result tallies of Sunday's election failed to quiet most districts in the Upper Egyptian city of Qena, where voters went on strike and protested by firing live bullets into the air. Hundreds of people gathered today in front of an administrative building of Qena's governorate to protest what they alleged was an organized plan to rig the elections against independent candidate Alnumeiry Rashwan in the city of Niqada. Streets that linked the governorate's administrative complex were closed and the city was put under tight security measures. In the city of Niqada, ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) candidate Abdullah Mar'ey, who hails from a tribe called Arab, is participating in a run-off with retired police brigadier general Saif Alnasser Ibrahim, another NDP candidate. No candidates from the Qena tribe of Fellaheen passed the initial election phase. Supporters of Alnumeiry Rashwan, an independent candidate, lost the election to Mar'ey. Ibrahim accused the NDP of ballot stuffing. Members of Arab and Fellaheen tribes exchanged live bullets on Monday. Yesterday, more than one thousand Rashwan supporters staged a demonstration in their home village of Almahrousa. Later, protesters closed the main road linking Qena with Luxor for more than 5 hours. Security personnel forced the demonstrators to leave after firing heavy quantities of tear gas. Local experts say that due to the relatively unchecked power of the tribes, members of families express discontent with the election results by using unlicensed guns to fire live bullets in the air. An official at the Security Directorate in the city of Qena told Almasry Alyoum "we are here to protect people and to safeguard voting stations, not to interfere with the electoral process." According to an official who asked not to be identified as he was not authorized to speak publicly, Qena's Security Directorate requested candidates to refrain from employing violence against each other during the election period. At the same time, supporters of Leila Khalifa, an independent candidate running for the woman's quota seat, protested in front of Qena's Security Directorate. Sixteen seats of the 508 seat parliament represent Qena. Egyptian law reserves two additional seats for women. Only two candidates won seats during the initial election. The rest will enter run-off elections scheduled for 5 December. In Qena's Raesiya district, supporters of Hesham Alsheaieny, who passed the initial election, fired live bullets that badly injured Gehan Alsayed, an 11 year old girl. The post election violence is not confined to Qena. After announcing the elections results yesterday, two opposing tribes in the city of Assiut exchanged live fire, killing a woman and her child.
