Free Egyptians claims majority of party seats won in parliamentary elections. The liberal Free Egyptians party, owned by business and media tycoon Naguib Sawiris, appears to have secured the majority of party seats with a total of 65 winning candidates. Mostaqbal Watan (future of a nation) party said they won a total of 50 parliamentary seats in the two election phases. Meanwhile, the liberal Wafd Party said they secured a total of 45 parliamentary seats. The ultra-conservative Salafist Nour Party said they garnered 12 seats in both polls phases. In the 2011 parliamentary elections, the Nour party gained second party majority in the parliament with around 24 percent of seats.
Political party Ideology Seats
Free Egyptians Party Liberal democrats 65
Nation’s Future Party Populism 50
Wafd Party National liberals 45
Homeland Defenders Party Populism 17
Republican People’s Party Populism 13
Al-Nour Party Salafi Islamist 12
Conference Party National liberals 12
Conservative Party Conservatism 6
Democratic Peace Party Nationalism 5
Egyptian Patriotic Movement Ex-NDP 5
Egyptian Social Democratic Party Social liberals 6
Freedom Party Ex-NDP 6
Modern Egypt Party Ex-NDP 3
My Homeland Egypt Party Populism 3
Reform and Development Party Liberal 1
Tagammu Party Leftists 1
Political parties members Independent Total
Individuals
Phase 1 108 105 213
Phase 2 87 124 211
Party list members 55 65 120
Total 250 294 544
We can see in Phase 2 that the number of independent candidates is greater than political parties members (124 vs. 87) while in Phase 1 they were almost equal. The party list For the Love of Egypt included also independent members. But globally the number of independents is greater than political parties members. Why? Because Ndp had been burnt and destroyed. The Muslim Brotherhood took the road of violence. We can say that political parties are passing by a recovery phase and most of them are new-born.
Women parliament members
The women rise: the biggest coalition in the parliament with 85 members! 71 women are now members of the new parliament while they are waiting for 14 other women which will be appointed by the president according to a law that didn’t expect a so big number. Moreover, more women can be elected in different postponed areas.
Phase 1:
Individual: 3 as independents + 2 as political parties’ members
Party list: 28 members
Phase 2:
Individual: 7 as independents + 4 as political parties’ members
Party list: 28 members
So far, waiting for the annex, they succeeded to win 16 seats (10 as independents + 6 as political parties’ members Source. In the MB parliament, 8 women won and 5 others had been appointed to get a miserable percentage of 1.5%.
Copts
36 Copts parliament members. For the first time in the Egyptian history 12 Copts won in an individual election race in four different governorates: Minia (1), Giza (1), Assiut (1), Cairo (9). 24 others won through the party list (For the love of Egypt).
Copts representation in the parliament from 1976 to 2005
1976: 0 elected +8 appointed
1979: 4 elected + 10 appointed
1984: 4 elected + 5 appointed
1987: 6 elected + 4 appointed
1995: 0 elected (among 57 candidates) + 6 appointed
2000: 3 elected + 3 appointed
2005: 1 elected (Botros Ghali + 6 appointed)
2010: 2 elected + 7 appointed
2012: 7 elected + 5 appointed
Conclusion: Since 1976 (40 years) only 27 Copts had been elected!
Paul Attallah