Liberals ousted Mubarak but Islamists ruling at elections

Islamist parties captured an overwhelming majority of votes in the first round of Egypt’s parliamentary elections, setting up a power struggle with the much weaker liberals behind the uprising that pushed Hosni Mubarak from power, according to results released yesterday.

There are still two more rounds of voting in 18 of the country’s 27 provinces over the coming month, and run-off elections early this week to determine almost all of the seats allocated for individuals in the first round. But the grip of the Islamists over the next parliament appears set, particularly considering their popularity in provinces voting in the next rounds.

The High Election Commission said the Islamic fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party garnered 36.6 per cent of the 9.7 million valid ballots cast for party lists. The Nour Party, a more hard-line Islamist group, captured 24.4 per cent.

Since Mubarak’s fall, Islamists and the liberal groups that led the uprising have been locked in a fight over the country’s new constitution. The new parliament will, in theory, select a 100-member panel to draft the new constitution. But adding to tensions, the ruling military council that took over from Mubarak has suggested it will choose 80 of those members, and said parliament will have no say in naming a new government.

“The conflict will be over the soul of Egypt,” said Nabil Abdel-Fattah, a senior researcher at the state-sponsored Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies. He called the new parliament “transitional” with a “very conservative Islamic” outlook.

Amr Moussa, a front-runner for Egypt’s presidency, yesterday said the strong Islamist showing had to be swallowed as democracy in action.

Moussa, a Mubarak-era foreign minister and secretary-general of the Arab League, said: “You cannot have democracy and then amend or reject the results.”

The Brotherhood has emerged as the most organised and cohesive political force in the elections. But with no track record of governing, it is not yet clear how it will behave in power.

The party has positioned itself as a moderate Islamist party that wants to implement Islamic law without sacrificing personal freedoms, and has said it will not seek an alliance with the more radical Nour party.

The ultra-conservative Salafis who dominate the Nour Party are newcomers to the political scene. They had previously frowned upon involvement in politics and shunned elections. They espouse a strict interpretation of Islam similar to that of Saudi Arabia.

Nour Party spokesman Yousseri Hamad suggested over the weekend, for example, that a state agency could penalise Muslims for eating during the day during Ramadan, when the devout fast from dawn to dusk.

Many in Egypt’s Coptic Christian population, which makes up 10 per cent of the country, fear the Salafis will push for laws that will make them second-class citizens.

Egypt already uses Islamic law as the basis for legislation. However, laws remain largely secular as shariah does not cover all aspects of modern life.

The liberal Egyptian Bloc – which came in third with 13.4 per cent of the votes – could counterbalance hard-line elements. Another liberal list, the Wafd Party, received 7.1 per cent, and the moderate Islamist Wasat or Centrist Party took 4.3 per cent.

It remains unclear how much influence the new parliament will have over Egypt’s democratic transition and how long it will even serve.

The Muslim Brotherhood has said it will challenge moves by the military to retain overall control of key aspects of governing and the transition. A strong showing by Islamists in the elections could boost its popular mandate to do so.