The Egyptian Salafists’ political arm of al-Nour party has suffered a crushing defeat in their strongholds of Alexandria, Marsa Matrouh, and Beheira in the first round of the 2015 parliament elections, according to the initial results of two-day voting.
The above-mentioned governorates are the only in which the party was on the ballot, competing other three parties For the love of Egypt, Knights of Egypt, Istiqlal and Egyptian Front Bloc. The winner party list will occupy 15 seats in the new House of Representatives’ 120 seats allocated for the parties.
In Alexandria, al-Nour party faced a dramatic loss against For the Love of Egypt party which include businessmen, Mubarak-era ex-parliamentarians, and retired generals. A figure of more than 325, 429 valid votes is the difference between both rivals as For the Love of Egypt got 464,909 votes and al-Nour obtained 139, 480 valid votes in 9 out of 10 districts.
According to the High Elections Committee (HEC), the total number of eligible voters in Alexandria is 3.291 million.
In Beheira, For the Love of Egypt party defeated al-Nour via gaining 403, 789 votes compared to 312,450 ballots in all constituencies except for Damanhur district, Youm7 reported.
However, the Mediterranean Marsa Matrouh is the only governorate where al-Nour won the first round with 23,000 valid votes, compared with 19,000 valid votes for In Love of Egypt, the HEC supervising judge in Matrouh announced. There were only two constituencies in the governorate.
The High Election Committee (HEC) has divided Egypt’s governorates into Four Regions -North, Middle South Upper Egypt (NMSUE); Cairo, South, Middle Delta (CSMD); West Delta; and East Delta). The elections of the first round have being carried out in two Regions of West Delta, and the NMSUE.
For the independent seats, 22 candidates belonging to al-Nour Party, will fight in the run-off on Oct. 26 and 27, Youm7 reported.
The second round of the elections is s scheduled on Nov. 22 and 23 for the domestic Egyptians in CSMD and East Delta to cover the governorates of Cairo, Qalubia, Dakahlia, Menoufia, Gharbia, Kafr El-Sheikh, Sharqia, Damietta, Port Said, Ismailia, Suez, North Sinai, and South Sinai. Meanwhile Egyptians outside Egypt will vote on Nov. 21 and 22.
Egypt’s House of Representatives will comprise of 596 members, with 448 to be elected as independents, 120 through the winner-take-all party lists system, with 28 seats to be appointed by the president, HEC said.
Egypt’s parliament was consists of two houses: Shura Council (upper house) and Peoples’ Assembly (the lower house); however, Shura Council cancelled and the Peoples’ Assembly was named the House of Representatives in 2014.
