CAIRO - Egyptian expats started voting on Monday in the runoffs in the second round of the People's Assembly (PA) elections, after Islamists made the greatest gains in the first round of the second stage of voting last Wednesday and Thursday. This is the first time for expats to be allowed to vote and their voting could be very influential. The runoffs will be held on Wednesday and on Thursday in nine governorates: Giza, Ismailia, Suez, Sharqia, Menoufia, Beheira, Sohag, Aswan and Beni Sueif. There will be 118 candidates contesting 59 seats. In the first round of the second stage, the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) won 37.5 per cent of votes and the Salafist Al-Nur Pary 30 per cent. Turnout in the first round of the second stage in Egypt's parliamentary elections hit 67 per cent, according to Abdel-Moez Ibrahim, the head of the Higher Elections Commission (HEC). The FJP said it won a total of 3.17 million out of 10.86 million valid votes for seats contested through the list-based candidacy system. The President of European Parliament Martin Schulz has said that Europe shouldn't avoid the opportunity to deal with Egypt's Islamists. Schulz told Israel's Haaretz newspaper on Monday that Islamists were the only ones who offer solutions to the people's problems, so Israel, Europe and the rest of the world shouldn't be surprised that they are doing so well in the elections. He added that Egyptian citizens want democracy, freedom and human rights, and that they are in need of deeds, not words, to achieve their demands. “Europe is busy finding partners in Egypt and the Middle East,” he answered when asked about Europe's impression of Islamists. According to Amr Roshdi, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, the HEC has asked the Ministry to make voting cards available on the website of the HEC to enable Egyptians to vote by e-mail and in person. Roshdi added that the Egyptian embassies and consulates would receive the voting cards by Wednesday. Voting will be held in 127 embassies and 11 consulates. He urged those who are eligible to vote to seize the opportunity to do so. It is thought that there have been fewer violations in the second stage so far than in the first stage of voting. Egyptians are pinning their hopes on the next PA, as it will have the right to choose the committee that will write the Constitution, while the election of the PA is a great step in handing over power to civilians, according to the Constitutional Declaration last February. A senior official in the Ministry of Administrative Development said that the third stage of polls would witness new procedures to prevent the violations in the first two phases. Ashraf Abdel-Wahab added that the Ministry has created a database, including names of voters to help people vote. A number of Giza candidates staged demonstrations on Monday outside the State Council, demanding the elections in the second and third constituencies in Giza be nullified. Candidates said that many mistakes and violations happened during the voting, adding that some employees in polling stations were not transparent and fair. Two-thirds of the new Parliament's 498 seats are allocated to parties, with the remainder earmarked for independent candidates.
