Freedom and Justice Party lists won between 30 and 60 percent of vote for the Shura Council, Egypt's upper house of Parliament, FJP said in a statement Tuesday. The statement said a large number of party candidates will run for single-winner seats in the runoff stage of elections because of a low voter turnout and the large number of candidates in the elections' first stage, held Sunday and Monday. Voting for the first round of Shura Council elections took place across 13 governorates and 15 electoral districts. Almost 3 million voters — 15 percent of those eligible — participated in the polls. Voter turnout in New Valley, North Sinai, Red Sea and Daqahlia governorates was the strongest proportionally, estimated at 15 to 20 percent. The other participating governorates had lower percentages. The FJP statement also said some judges supervising polling stations refused to allow candidates' representatives to oversee ballot counting, despite the High Judicial Elections Commission's previous declaration that they could. The elections commission should solve this problem, which occurred in some constituencies, the statement said.
