Egypt's Islamists sweep 75 percent of Egyptian parliament

Final election results on Saturday showed that Islamist parties won nearly three-quarters of the seats in the Egyptian parliament following the first elections since the ouster of authoritarian president Hosni Mubarak, according to local election officials and political groups.

In the vote for the lower house of parliament, a coalition led by the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood won 47 percent, or 235 seats in the 498-seat parliament. The ultraconservative Al-Nour Party was second with 25 percent, or 125 seats. The Salafi Al-Nour wants to impose strict Islamic law in Egypt, while the more moderate Brotherhood, the country's best-known and organized party, has said publicly that it does not seek to force its views about an appropriate Islamic lifestyle on Egyptians.

The Egyptian bloc, which is headed by a party founded by Christian telecom tycoon Naguib Sawiris, said it won 9 percent of the seats in parliament. Egypt's oldest secular party, the Wafd, also won around 9 percent. Newer parties, such as the liberal Revolution Continues Party won 2 percent, as did the Islamist Center Party, which had been banned from politics under Mubarak.

It is expected that the Muslim Brotherhood will seek a coalition with one of the smaller more liberal parties and not with the more radical Salafi Al-Nour.

EU-Digest