Thursday, December 8, 2011

Egypt: Liberals and democrats revel in Salafist electoral defeats

Egyptian liberals breathed a sigh of relief upon the ouster of Salafist figures in the runoffs in the first round of parliamentary elections

After lamenting an emphatic Islamist victory in Egypt's parliamentary elections’ first round, as well as the paltry shares of candidates representing their views and ideologies, Egyptian liberals breathed a sigh of relief upon the ouster of several key Salafist figures in the first round runoffs.

Al-Nour Party competed during the first runoff elections for 27 seats in Cairo, Alexandria, Assiut, Luxor, Kafr El-Sheikh, Port Said, Fayoum and Damietta. Much to its disappointment, however, the biggest Salafist party only secured five seats overall out of the eight governorates.

The runoff results were taken as a pleasant surprise for leftists and secularists, who have had butterflies in their stomachs since Al-Nour emerged as the second biggest winner in the first round, having seized 25 per cent of the votes.

Read more-Ahram online

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