Cairo: Diehard supporters of independent candidate Mustafa Bakri, a famous journalist and an ex-MP, could not believe that he lost in Sunday's legislative elections. Bakri, now in hospital after suffering a coma, was defeated by Minister of Military Production Sayyed Meshal in Helwan, south of Cairo.
But Bakri, known for his vociferous opposition to the government, claims the vote was rigged in favour of Meshal, a member of President Hosni Mubarak's National Democratic Party.
The new parliament, expected to be dominated by Mubarak's party, will be without several of Egypt's well-known opposition figures, who made it in the 2005 elections.
Besides Bakri, Hamdeen Sabahi, a potential presidential challenger, lost out to a rival from the ruling party in Al Borolis in the Nile Delta town of Kafr Al Shaikh. A few hours before the vote was over, Sabahi said he quit due to alleged election fraud.
The list of defeated opponents, who sat in the outgoing parliament, includes Jamilaa Ismail, a political activist and the ex-wife of opposition dissident Ayman Nour; Sa'ad Al Katatni, who headed the parliamentary bloc of the banned Muslim Brotherhood since 2005; and independent Jamal Zahran. All of them lost out to contenders from the ruling party.
The new parliament is expected to be without strong, efficient opposition. The Muslim Brotherhood, which garnered a fifth of the parliamentary seats in the 2005 elections, has failed to win any seat in the first round of vote. The run-off vote is due on December 5.
