Islamists set to dominate in Egypt vote

Egyptians voting on Thursday said they felt empowered by the first free election after Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule, a vote likely to give Islamists the upper hand in a parliament that will help shape Egypt's new constitution. The army, which took over after Mubarak was ousted, remains in charge until a presidential election in mid-2012, but parliament will have a popular mandate that the military will find difficult to ignore as it oversees the transition.
Islamist-led party lists secured about two-thirds of votes in the first round of the election. However, the Islamists are a broad and divided camp, which analysts say gives liberals a chance to make their voices heard in the new assembly. The leading group, the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), said it expected to hold onto its lead in the second round but that it was not clear if its share of the vote would stay around the 40 percent mark.
Many Egyptians were enjoying the novelty of taking part in a vote that, unlike in Mubarak's era, they did not expect to be rigged. "I'm 61 years old and I've never voted before. I came here today as I couldn't vote yesterday because of the crowds," said Azza Mohamed at a busy Cairo polling station.
Before Egyptians rose up in January to topple Mubarak 18 days later, the president's National Democratic Party (NDP) swept to assured victories in elections littered with abuses. Parliament's prime job will be appointing a 100-strong assembly to write a constitution defining the powers of the president, parliament and perhaps the army in the new Egypt.
The ruling army council raised suspicions it wanted to hang on to power, even after a new president was elected, when its cabinet proposed inserting articles in the new constitution that would have shielded it from civilian scrutiny. That sparked more than a week of violent protests in Cairo and elsewhere in November in which 42 people were killed.
Candidates seeking to run in the presidential election will need the support of 30 members of parliament or 30,000 citizens, according to a draft law reported by state news agency MENA. Official results are expected on Saturday or Sunday, but parties are likely to estimate their performance before that.