By Daniel N.
Election results show that Egypt’s future rests solely in hands of conservative Islam.
Had he been alive today, Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al Banna would have been proud. Nearly 83 years since its founding, it appears as though the Islamist organization’s patience has finally paid off, after the group came away as favorites from Egypt’s first round of parliamentary elections. While the elections still have two more rounds of polling in various governorates of the country, the preliminary results of the first round which was held in Egypt’s largest population centers of Cairo and Alexandria are a telling indicator of things to come.
After polls closed on November 30, initial results estimate that Islamist parties have captured 120 of the 168 seats up for grabs in the first round of elections. The Brotherhood, represented by its Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) claimed 40 percent of votes, while ultra-conservative Salafist groups came in second with 20 percent. The Egypt Bloc, a coalition of secular and Coptic Christian parties originally assembled to challenge the Islamists, came in third, beating out the long time favorite liberal Wafd party.
