PoliticsEgypt: Parliamentary Elections: Early results of the vote show Islamicists winning

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NYTimes (November30,2k11)
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Early results in Egypt: 

 

Mandate for Islamists!

"CAIRO — Islamists claimed a decisive victory on Wednesday as early election results put them on track to win a dominant majority in Egypt’s first Parliament since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak, the most significant step yet in the religious movement’s rise since the start of the Arab Spring.", 

says David D. Kirkpatrick, correspondent for NYT in Cairo, Egypt.

Read this early report on the Egyptian vote count, still in process ....

PoliticsEgypt: Parliamentary Elections: Voting begins

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Huffington Post (November 23, 2k11)
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Egypt Elections: Voting 

begins in 1st parliamentary 

polls since historic revolt

CAIRO -- Voting began on Monday in Egypt's first parliamentary elections since longtime authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak was ousted in a popular uprising nine months ago.

The vote is a milestone many Egyptians hope will usher in a democratic age after decades of dictatorship.

But the ballot has already has been marred by turmoil in the streets, and the population is sharply polarized and confused over the nation's direction.

Still, the vote promises to be the fairest and cleanest election in Egypt in living memory. The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest and best organized group, along with its Islamist allies are expected to do well in the vote.

Voters stood in long lines outside some polling centers in Cairo well before they opened at 8 a.m. local time, a rare sign of interest in political participation after decades of apathy created by the mass rigging of every vote.

"I am voting for freedom. We lived in slavery. Now we want justice in freedom," said 50-year-old Iris Nawar as she was about to vote in the district of Maadi, a Cairo suburb.

"We are afraid of the Muslim Brotherhood. But we lived for 30 years under Mubarak, we will live with them too," said Nawar, a fist-time voter.

In the upscale neighborhood of Zamalek, some 500 voters waited in line outside a polling station at a school. Shahira Ahmed, 45, was there with her husband and daughter. Like Nawar, Ahmed had never cast a ballot before.

"I never voted because I was never sure it was for real. This time, I hope it is, but I am not positive. The most important thing is to have a liberal and a civilized country, I mean no fanatics," she said, alluding to the Islamists, who hope their domination of the next parliament will bring them closer to realizing their dream of creating an Islamic Egypt.

PoliticsEgypt: Referendum: What's ahead for Egypt on March 19?

Election Guide (Mar12,2k11)


refWrite is prepping readers for the vitally important parliamentary elections in Egypt, scheduled for Mar19,2k11.  Please read this info. - Politicarp

Country: Egypt Official Name: Arab Republic of Egypt Election Type: Referendum Date: March 19, 2011 Source for election date

At stake in this Referendum:

• A referendum to change 
• the current constitution of Egypt.

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Mohamed Hussein TANTAWI 
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Essam SHARAF 
• Assembly: Egypt has a bicameral Parliament consisting of the Advisory Council (Majilis Al-Shura) with 264 seats and the People's Assembly (Majlis Al-Sha'b) with 518 seats**.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is elected by absolute majority vote through a two-round system to serve a 6-year term.*
• The Prime Minister is appointed by the president with the approval of the parliament.
• In the Advisory Council (Majilis Al-Shura), 176 members are elected by absolute majority vote through a two-round system to serve 6-year terms and 88 members are appointed by the president to serve 6-year terms. In the People's Assembly (Majlis Al-Sha'b), 444 members are elected by absolute majority vote through a two-round system to serve 5-year terms, 10 members are appointed by the president to serve 5-year terms and 64 members are reserved for women to serve 5-year terms.**

* A national referendum in May 2005 approved a constitutional amendment that changed the presidential election to a multicandidate popular vote. Previously, the president was nominated by the People's Assembly and the nomination was validated by a national, popular referendum. Candidates may run with a party or as independents. Each registered political party is allowed to field a candidate if they have been licensed for at least five years and hold at least five percent of the seats in the lower and upper houses of parliament. In order to qualify as an independent, potential candidates must collect 250 signatures from elected officials. These officials can be from both the national and municipal level.

** Every district contains two seats and electors are given two votes. At least one seat in each district is reserved for a worker or farmer. If no candidate receives an absolute majority in the first round, a second round is held one week later. This round will contain the top 4 vote-getters, provided 2 are workers and/or farmers. If the two top candidates in the first round are not workers or farmers, the top candidate is elected, while a new simple majority poll is held a week later among the top workers and farmers. In the women's tier, every governorate is one electoral district and elects two women, at least half of whom must be workers or farmers, except for the governorates of Cairo, El‐Daqahilia, and Sohag which are divided into two electoral districts, each of which elects two women members

Main provisions in the Referendum:

• Changes to the Egyptian Constitution.* The proposed changes would shorten the presidential term from four to six years, while creating a two-term limit. It would also make it eaiser run for president by lowering the eligabity to either collecting 30,000 signatures from at least 15 provinces, or from 30 members of a chamber of the legislature, or nomination by a party holding at least a seat in the legislature. It would also make it more difficult for the government to declare and renew a state of emergency.

* Complete text of the proposed changes in English and Arabic can be found in the "of interest" section in the top right of this page.

Population, but no figures for number of registered voters:

• Population: 80,471,869 (July 2010 est.)

Last Updated on 03/04/2011

-- Election Guide materials posted by Politicarp