الرئيسية
A young boy prays with anti-military rule protestors
before a demonstration at Tahrir square in Cairo. Egypt said on Friday
the country's first post-revolution election had seen a record turnout
but it again delayed the release of full results expected to show
Islamist candidates sweep to victory.(AFP/Odd Andersen)
By Jailan Zayan, AFP
CAIRO (AFP) - Egypt again delayed the release of full
election results expected to show Islamist candidates sweeping to
victory.
At a press conference by the election commission chief
Abdel Moez Ibrahim, already pushed back by two days, he began announcing
figures before abruptly leaving the room saying he had "no more energy"
and had "run out of gas."
His incomplete announcement of results
in some constituencies made it difficult to discern the overall trend,
but he did reveal that turnout had been a record "since the Pharoahs" at
62 percent.
His prepared opening statement said Egypt had
"passed from an era of dictatorship to a democratic era" -- a reference
to the abuses of the regime of Hosni Mubarak who was overthrown in a
January-February uprising.
More than eight million Egyptians
embraced their new democratic freedoms this week in Cairo and
second-city Alexandria in the first election since the toppling of the
30-year rule of president Mubarak.
The results are expected to
show the Muslim Brotherhood, a moderate Islamist movement banned for
decades, as the dominant force, but with a strong showing by hardline
Salafi candidates.
Forecasts in the local media and from the
parties themselves put the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP)
at around 40 percent, the Salafis at about 20 percent and a secular
liberal alliance trailing in third place.
There was no immediate
announcement of when full results would be revealed, but Ibrahim said
they would be posted on the Internet.
The figures are from only
the opening part of a parliamentary election taking place in three
stages, but they will reveal the political trends shaping the country's
transition to democracy.
The military rulers who took control
after the overthrow of Mubarak have adopted a highly complicated system
for the election which has been criticised by many observers.
Voters
were required to pass three votes on Monday and Tuesday: two for
individual candidates -- split between workers and professionals -- and
one for a party.
Ibrahim gave results for the individual
contests, with all but four of them going into a run-off next Monday
because no candidate gained an outright majority.
Only a third of
constituencies voted this week to elect a new lower house of
parliament. The rest of the country will follow on December 14 and then
on January 3.
The prospect of an Islamist-dominated parliament
raises fears among liberals about civil liberties, religious freedom in a
country with the Middle East's largest Christian minority, and
tolerance of multi-party democracy.
"My father is seriously
thinking about sending me and my brothers elsewhere because he thinks we
won't have a future in the country with the Salafis," Nardine, a
Christian banker in her 20s, told AFP.
Leaders from the Muslim
Brotherhood, set to be the main party in parliament, have repeatedly
stressed their commitment to multi-party democracy and inclusiveness,
and have pledged to ensure freedoms.
The Brotherhood's FJP says
it strives for a "civil state, defined as a non-military non-religious
state... that respects human rights" according to its political
programme.
The group has been officially banned since the 1950s,
but it counts hundreds of thousands of members and is known for its vast
network of social and religious outreach programmes, as well as its
stand against corruption.
Two demonstrations were also called on
Friday -- one against the army leaders overseeing the country's promised
transition to democracy and another to support the regime -- but
turnout was low by recent standards.
The Brotherhood and other
political parties are expected to face a fierce power struggle with the
army to ensure the complete transfer of power to the new civilian
leaders.
The FJP has already said it expects to be asked to form a
new government to replace a new military-appointed administration set
to be announced on Saturday.
The army leaders last week named a new caretaker prime minister, 78-year-old Mubarak-era politician Kamal al-Ganzuri.
The
appointment came after 43 people were killed and more than 3,000
injured in violent protests against the interim military regime which is
accused of looking to consolidate its huge political and economic
power.
Analysts say Egypt, the Arab world's most populous nation
and its cultural heart, faces a long, highly complex and uncertain
transition to democracy amid growing growing concerns about the economy.