CAIRO: The Muslim Brotherhood's political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), swept the run-offs in the first round of parliamentary elections, winning 34 of 50 seats, according to preliminary results. In a statement, FJP Secretary General Saad Al-Katatny said that the first round of elections represented all political powers and factions. He added that these political powers carried a great responsibility to serve the people who placed trust in them, especially the FJP. "We will exert all efforts to develop our country, solve its problems and develop it in all aspects," he said. The Salafi Al-Nour Party came in second place, winning seven or eight seats, said its spokesman Yousry Hammad, who added that they expected to win at least double the number of seats they managed to snatch. "I believe the low turnout in the run-offs and the fact that most of the competition was between Al-Nour and FJP drove people away from voting," Hammad told Daily News Egypt. He claims there was a vicious campaign launched against his party, accusing them of exploiting religion. "Anonymous people gave out flyers claiming that they are affiliated with Al-Nour and saying that those who don't vote for Al-Nour have committed a sin," he said. Run-offs were canceled in Cairo's first constituency which includes Shobra, Sahel and Sharabiya. A total of 100 candidates competed over 50 seats in the run-offs, which follow the first past the post system. In the initial round, individual candidates could only win by absolute majority, that is, by securing 50 plus one percent of the votes. Forty-five FJP candidates made it to the run-offs, while 25 belonged to Al-Nour Party. The liberal Egyptian Bloc, spearheaded by the Free Egyptians Party, had only seven candidates in the run-offs. The run-offs were held in 26 of the 28 constituencies in the first round of elections which were held on Nov. 28-29. Only four candidates won an absolute majority in the first round. The Egyptian Bloc announced that Mohamed Hamed, member of Free Egyptians' political bureau, won the "professionals" seat against FJP candidate Amr Fathallah in Cairo's sixth constituency which includes Qasr El-Nil Azbakeyya and Boulaq districts. Basel Adel, also a member of the Free Egyptians' political bureau, said that it was still unclear which of the other six candidates from the bloc had won. The bloc includes the Free Egyptians, Al-Tagammu Party and the Egyptian Socialist Democratic Party. Adel claimed that the Islamist parties came ahead of the Egyptian Bloc due to the religious campaign they waged against them, focusing more on Islam than on a political program. However, says Adel, in areas such as Cairo's third constituency which includes Nasr City, where FJP and Al-Nour candidates lost, people were more aware of these campaigns and refused to fall victim to religious blackmail. Mostafa El-Naggar, leading member of El-Adl Party in the third constituency, won the professionals' seat against independent Salafi candidate Mohamed Youssry. As the judge announced the final results, El-Naggar's supporters began to chant “God is Great.” Yousry thanked those who supported him in a note on his Facebook page, adding that his office was open to everyone. While liberal parties and candidates like Amr Hamzawy supported El-Naggar, Yousry had joined forces with the FJP candidate Essam Mokhtar, who also lost the workers' seat to Al-Wasat candidate Amr Farouq. Al-Wasat Party is known as the most moderate Islamist Party on the political scene. The FJP and Al-Nour also topped the preliminary results of the closed party lists system constituencies in the first round. According to results released on Sunday, the FJP garnered 36.6 percent of the 9.7 million valid ballots cast for party lists, while Al-Nour captured 24.4 percent, and the Egyptian Bloc won 13.4 percent of the votes. The second round will be held on Dec. 14 in nince governorates. The MB, which was officially banned since 1954, was considered the most powerful opposition group under Mubarak. The group managed to gain popularity among the Egyptian people through its social work and organization, winning 88 seats (nearly 20 percent) as independents in the 2005 elections. Al-Nour, however, was established following the ouster of Mubarak whose reign, the Salafis suffered oppression and were systematically detained and tortured by security forces. They had generally shunned politics. In Alexandria, many activists on Twitter breathed a sigh of relief when Al-Nour candidate Abdel Moniem El-Shahat lost the run-offs to independent candidate Hosni Dowidar, backed by the FJP. El-Shahat made statements last week denouncing democracy and describing those who promote it over the word of God as "atheists." He also described the literature of Egyptian Nobel prize winner Naguib Mahfouz as “inciting promiscuity, prostitution and atheism.” These statements aggravated many Egyptians and liberal parties who joined forces against El-Shahat to guarantee his loss in the run-offs. The competition was, however, fraught with exchanged accusations between both Islamist parties, each claiming that the other was backing independent candidate Tarek Talaat Moustafa, a member of the dissolved National Democratic Party, against Councilor Mahmoud El-Khodeiry who ran with the FJP. According to preliminary results, El-Khodeiry beat Moustafa who had led the vote in the initial round.–Additional reporting by Omnia Desouki and Abdel Rahman Youssef. Vote counting at Nasr City's Future School, where Mostafa El-Naggar won the professionals' seat against independent Salafi candidate Mohamed Youssry. (Daily News Egypt Photo/Hassan Ibrahim)
