“Democracy is on the march.” From the San Jose Mercury News:
CAIRO, Egypt – The Muslim Brotherhood won 20 percent of the overall vote in the first round of Egypt’s parliamentary elections, according to initial official results released Wednesday after a day of intense runoff balloting.
The Brotherhood, the country’s largest opposition group, is officially banned as a political party in Egypt but fielded candidates as independents. It won 30 seats, while the ruling National Democratic Party won 50 seats, the semi-official Middle East News Agency reported, quoting judges in counting stations.
The results of Tuesday’s runoffs and last week’s polling – the first round in the four-week elections – mean the Brotherhood has already captured 34 seats in parliament, more than double the 15 it held in the outgoing assembly. This confirms its position as the biggest single opposition group to President Hosni Mubarak’s government.
Scattered violence and rigging allegations marred the runoffs, called to decide the 133 seats where no candidate won more than half the vote on Nov. 9…
The ruling party is not expected to lose its long-held majority in the 454-seat parliament. The elections are seen as a gauge of how far Mubarak is prepared to open the political system. During the past two years, the United States has put increasing pressure on the president to liberalize his authoritarian administration…
The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights said it saw “increasing instances of election bribes … collective voting, and in some cases assaults on voters for not supporting NDP candidates.”…