Islamists leading again in Egypt's second round of voting

Almasry Alyoum

CAIRO, Dec 19: Turnout in the second round of Egypt’s parliamentary election reached 67 percent, according to Abdul Moez Ibrahim, the head of the supreme election committee. Ibrahim was speaking at a news conference on Sunday. DECISION TIME ... Egyptians casting ballots for the second round of the elections The Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) claim to have received 40 percent of the votes. Over 12 million voters cast their ballots on Wednesday and Thursday in nine of the country's 27 provinces.The total number of eligible voters is almost 19 million. He added that almost a million votes were invalidated in the governorates of Giza, Beni Suef, Monufiya, Sharqiya, Ismailia, Suez, Beheira, Sohag and Aswan. Ibrahim said that there were fewer irregularities than in the first round. “The negative aspects declined,” he said, “which means we are making progress.” He said that the military police attacked judges in Sharqiya and that he reported the incidents to General Hamdy Badeen, head of the military police. There will be a run-off in most of the constituencies next Wednesday, as few candidates managed to secure a majority of votes. Voters will choose between the two candidates who received the highest number of votes in the first round. Two-thirds of the new parliament's 498 seats are allocated to parties, with the remainder earmarked for independent candidates. But unofficial counts say that the FJP is leading the polls in most of the nine governorates, while the runner-up is the Salafi Nour Party. The FJP list has secured about 40 percent of votes in the second round of Egypt's staggered parliamentary election, a party source told Reuters on Sunday. The list led by the FJP achieved more votes than it did in the first round, where they got about 37 percent of the votes. The poll, held over six weeks, is the first since President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February. Official results have not been released but party representatives watch the count and their predictions after the first round were broadly accurate. The third and final round of voting takes place in January. The FJP source said the 40 percent estimate was based on counting completed in 11 of the 15 second-round constituencies where seats will be allocated by party lists. In a separate statement, the FJP said it was concerned the final result would be skewed against it, saying it had noted differences between its tally and official numbers. It did not specify how the counting may have been flawed. Independent monitors have listed electoral abuses such as illegal campaigning outside polling stations. The first-round vote in one district of Cairo will be re-run after ballots were lost or damaged during counting. The election committee has said the violations have not undermined the vote's overall legitimacy.