CAIRO - Egyptians headed today to the polling stations to cast their ballots in the runoffs in the second stage of the People's Assembly (PA) elections. The runoffs are being held on Wednesday and Thursday in nine governorates: Giza, Sharqia, Menoufia, Beheira, Aswan, Sohag, Suez, Ismailia and Beni Sueif. Candidates will be contesting 59 individual seats. Mohamed Anwar el-Sadat is the only candidate to have won in the first round of the second stage. Islamists have won the majority of seats so far in the parliamentary elections, with some Western countries and liberals in Egypt worried about what might happen if the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) rule Egypt. But the Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood has said that they will not rule Egypt alone, adding that Parliament will include ‘all the colours of the rainbow', with all the MPs having to agree on one direction, one goal. The FJP, who are expected to maintain their lead, have 47 candidates in Wednesday and Thursday's runoffs. The turnout so far in the second stage of the PA (Lower House of Parliament) elections has hit 67 per cent, according to the Higher Elections Commission (HEC). Political forces have been urging citizens to turn out en masse, as they did in the first round of the second stage. In the first round last Wednesday and Thursday, there were 11,579,407 valid votes, while another 949,832 were null and void. In the first round of the second stage, the head of the HEC, Abdel-Moez Ibrahim, praised the efforts of the Army and police in securing the elections, amid the recent protests and clashes. He added that they have ironed out the problems that happened in the first stage, such as late arrival of ballots and the absence of some judges, stressing that the HEC is doing its best to avoid further mistakes. “There was bad organisation,” one judge, in charge of supervising polls, told The Egyptian Gazette on Tuesday without giving his name, adding that judges are determined that everything will go off smoothly this time. Expats started voting in embassies and consulates on Monday and will continue to do so till Wednesday. The 508-seat People's Assembly has 498 seats up for grabs, with the remaining 10 being appointed by the president. The new Parliament is in charge of selecting a 100-member assembly to draft a new constitution. The Shura Council (Upper House of Parliament) elections will start in late January and end in early March, to be followed by presidential elections before June 30, 2012. Some activists and public figures have suggested that the presidential elections be held far earlier, on January 25, instead of next June. Amr Moussa, one of the presidential hopefuls, supports the idea of early presidential polls. He was quoted by the official Middle East News Agency (MENA) as saying that the country is in bad shape and urgently needs stability.
