The first and second stage of Egypt's parliamentary elections produced a 28.3 percent turnout rate, Egypt's High Electoral Committee (HEC) announced on Friday. In a press conference, the head of the HEC Ayman Abbas said that 15,206,010 out of 53,786,762 eligible voters cast their ballots in both stages. "With this announcement, the roadmap that has started with drafting the constitution, then electing a president, and lastly forming the legislative authority in Egypt, has been completed," Abbas said, referring to the steps that followed the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013. The highest turnout among the 27 governorates in both stages was North Sinai with a turnout of 41.6 percent, while the lowest was Suez governorate with a turnout of 18.1 percent. The HEC also announced that the turnout for the second stage runoffs, which took place on 1 and 2 December, reached 6,253,987 voters with a rate of 22.3 percent. Abbas also said that a total of 222 candidates in the second round have secured their seats in the individual system, breaking down the winners to 85 MPs, with some as party affiliates, reaching a percentage of 38.3 percent, while the number of independent winners reached 137 with a rate of 61.7 percent. He added that 12 women and 17 youths under 35 were among those winners. Abbas said 13 MPs from four districts in Alexandria, Beheria, Damanhour, and Beni Suef governorates are yet to be re-elected as the districts' first phase results were deemed void by the Egyptian administrative courts. The head of the HEC also announced that all 60 seats for the lists in this round went to the For the Love of Egypt list that is being coordinated by former intelligence member Sameh Seif El-Yazal. The For the Love of Egypt electoral list already won 60 party-based list seats in the first stage of the parliamentary elections. Egypt's parliament — the House of Representatives — will be comprised of 596 members; 448 elected as independents and 120 from party-based lists. The remaining 28 seats will be filled by presidential appointments. The parliament's lower house was dissolved in June 2012 due to the unconstitutionality of an election law. In the following year the upper house, the only house operating at the time, was dismantled upon Morsi's ouster. President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has held legislative powers since his election in 2014 due to the absence of an elected parliament. source: Ahram online
