CAIRO: While Egypt awaits the delayed publication of results for the opening phase of its first elections since the fall of Hosni Mubarak, protesters gathered in Tahrir Square to remember the over 70 people killed in clashes with police last month and to reinforce their demand that the army step down immediately. It is the second time that the date for results has been pushed back from their initially scheduled time of Wednesday evening. The reason is ascribed to the high voter turnout in Monday and Tuesday's vote. The results are expected to show a clear indicator of Egyptian's political views as for more than four decades, free and fair elections were impossible. Pre-counting reveals that the long-banned Muslim Brotherhood is going to play a major role in Egypt's first freely elected parliament as it took at least 40 percent of the votes, results which have been given so far have stated. The newly formed el-Nour Party, an ultra-conservative Salafist Islamist group, said on Thursday that it expects 20 percent of assembly seats while the liberal multi-party Egyptian Bloc said it is on track to secure about 25 percent of votes for party lists. With the suspected success of the Muslim Brotherhood and against the background of the relatively high voter turnout for the el-Nour Party, fears among liberals about civil liberties, religious freedom and tolerance of multi-party democracy grow – justified or not, remains to be seen. An Islamist majority could herald a greater role for conservative Islam in Egyptian social life and shifts in foreign policy, especially towards Israel – but all this is speculation. This is only the first part of parliamentary elections. While a slight political trend may be revealed, as a free vote was impossible for decades, analysts warn against reading too much into only the first part. Only one-third of constituencies voted on Monday and Tuesday in the election for a new lower house of parliament. The rest of the country will follow on December 14 and then on January 3. Whatever party will win, its major task will be the struggle to win control from the ruling military and write a new constitution. BM
