Al Sissi loyalists gain strong vote support

Cairo: An Egyptian electoral alliance loyal to President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi has won all the 60 seats reserved for party-based lists in the first round of the country’s parliamentary elections held this week, according to unofficial results, a sign that the coming legislature will be controlled by his supporters.

The “For Love of Egypt”, a bloc of 10 political parties, wealthy businessmen and ex-government officials, secured 45 parliamentary seats in the Upper Egypt electoral district and 15 others in the Western Delta, officials in the alliance said on Tuesday.

“The alliance won 55 per cent of the votes cast in Upper Egypt and 57 per cent in the Western Delta,” said Mustafa Bakri, a former lawmaker and an official in the “For Love of Egypt”.

According to initial results, the Salafist Al Nour Party, the only Islamist force contesting the elections, has lagged far behind in the polls held Sunday and Monday in 14 of Egypt’s 27 governorates.

Al Nour held a quarter of the 2012 legislature, coming second to the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. That assembly was dissolved months later and Egypt has since been without a legislature.

Meanwhile, unofficial results showed that most of the 226 seats allocated for independents in the first phase of the polls will be at the centre of run-offs due next week after the contenders failed to win the majority of ballots.

Official results are expected to be announced on Thursday.

The two-round election allocates a total of 120 seats for political parties through a system of absolute the winner-takes-all lists.

This arrangement gives the party list, which wins more than 50 per cent of the vote in any electoral district, all the seats there.

The second round will be staged in 13 governorates, including Cairo, next month and run through December.

A 2014 constitution grants the parliament unprecedented powers, including the right to call for an early presidential election.

Most contenders standing for the five-year parliament openly support Al Sissi, raising speculation that the legislature will be compliant.

“The new parliament will be a mere facade without real substance,” said Wahid Abdul Majid, an expert at the state-run Al Ahram Centre for Strategic Studies.

“The political life in Egypt has not changed. Candidates have nothing new to present. So, the current elections, like the previous ones, are controlled by wealthy contestants and those with strong connections.”

The parliament or the House of Representatives will be made up of 596 members, including 568 elected lawmakers: 448 for independents and 120 through party-based lists. The president has the authority to appoint 28 members.