(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Egyptians went to the polls for second-round runoffs on Sunday of an election which President Hosni Mubarak's party is poised to win almost unopposed in the face of an opposition boycott.
The choice in the parliamentary election was limited to candidates from the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) and independents, although the names of boycotting opposition candidates remained on the ballot papers.
Egypt's two main opposition blocs, the Muslim Brotherhood and the liberal Wafd party, withdrew from the race after official results from the November 28 first round gave the NDP around 95 percent of the seats decided outright.
The conduct of the election drew criticism from human rights groups and also from the United States, Egypt's key ally.
The opposition boycott of runoffs in constituencies where candidates failed to win at least 50 percent of the vote leaves the NDP with 383 hopefuls running mostly against rivals from within the same party for 283 seats.
The only serious opposition force, the Muslim Brotherhood did not win a single seat in the first round, while the NDP, which has already dominated parliament for 30 years, won 209 out of 221 seats in the first round.
The Brotherhood's decision to pull out its remaining 27 candidates from the second round marked its first boycott of an election since the 1990s, although the group has complained of fraud in every poll in has contested.
The Wafd, which usually has work ties with the government, won two seats in the first round, but also decided to pull out of Sunday's runoff, in a rare display of resolve for the fractured party.
Three other parties which each won a seat last week decided to keep their candidates in the race.
According to Egypt's electoral commission, 167 independent candidates were also on the ballot on Sunday, but that figure included the Brotherhood members.
Analysts said the NDP appeared to have overplayed its hand by virtually wiping out the opposition, strengthening the impression of a one-party state, in an Arab country which Mubarak has ruled for the past three decades.
"The pullout of the opposition adds to the legitimacy crisis. It means the opposition is no longer buying into the system. The damage done to the NDP is huge," said Amr Hamzawi of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Human rights groups say they gathered evidence of fraud and vote-buying in the first round, after a campaign which already made it tough for the NDP's opponents to win seats.
Police arrested more than 1,000 Brotherhood supporters and candidates faced campaigning curbs in the run-up to the vote.
At least 11 of the group's supporters have been sentenced to two-year jail terms for ‘distributing its campaign literature.’
The vote is seen as an indicator of Egypt's far more important presidential poll due in late 2011. Mubarak, 82, has yet to announce whether he will stand and is widely believed to be grooming his son Gamal for succession.
The near absence of opposition parties in parliament means whoever stands for the NDP in the presidential election will face almost no challenge, a scenario which could raise questions over the president's legitimacy.
The choice in the parliamentary election was limited to candidates from the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) and independents, although the names of boycotting opposition candidates remained on the ballot papers.
Egypt's two main opposition blocs, the Muslim Brotherhood and the liberal Wafd party, withdrew from the race after official results from the November 28 first round gave the NDP around 95 percent of the seats decided outright.
The conduct of the election drew criticism from human rights groups and also from the United States, Egypt's key ally.
The opposition boycott of runoffs in constituencies where candidates failed to win at least 50 percent of the vote leaves the NDP with 383 hopefuls running mostly against rivals from within the same party for 283 seats.
The only serious opposition force, the Muslim Brotherhood did not win a single seat in the first round, while the NDP, which has already dominated parliament for 30 years, won 209 out of 221 seats in the first round.
The Brotherhood's decision to pull out its remaining 27 candidates from the second round marked its first boycott of an election since the 1990s, although the group has complained of fraud in every poll in has contested.
The Wafd, which usually has work ties with the government, won two seats in the first round, but also decided to pull out of Sunday's runoff, in a rare display of resolve for the fractured party.
Three other parties which each won a seat last week decided to keep their candidates in the race.
According to Egypt's electoral commission, 167 independent candidates were also on the ballot on Sunday, but that figure included the Brotherhood members.
Analysts said the NDP appeared to have overplayed its hand by virtually wiping out the opposition, strengthening the impression of a one-party state, in an Arab country which Mubarak has ruled for the past three decades.
"The pullout of the opposition adds to the legitimacy crisis. It means the opposition is no longer buying into the system. The damage done to the NDP is huge," said Amr Hamzawi of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Human rights groups say they gathered evidence of fraud and vote-buying in the first round, after a campaign which already made it tough for the NDP's opponents to win seats.
Police arrested more than 1,000 Brotherhood supporters and candidates faced campaigning curbs in the run-up to the vote.
At least 11 of the group's supporters have been sentenced to two-year jail terms for ‘distributing its campaign literature.’
The vote is seen as an indicator of Egypt's far more important presidential poll due in late 2011. Mubarak, 82, has yet to announce whether he will stand and is widely believed to be grooming his son Gamal for succession.
The near absence of opposition parties in parliament means whoever stands for the NDP in the presidential election will face almost no challenge, a scenario which could raise questions over the president's legitimacy.
End item/ 129