Egypt: High Voter Turnout; MB Won’t Impose Islamic Values

Abdul Moez Ibrahim, the head of the Egyptian supreme election committee, told a news conference on Friday that voter turnout for the first round of elections was 62 percent, and added “it is the highest voter turnout since the pharaohs.” However, as the results were announced, many candidates face a runoff elections as they did not reach the required 50 percent to win a seat. Preliminary results show Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood gaining the most votes, and on Saturday Brotherhood leaders called on their rival to accept the polls outcome. ”We call upon everyone, and all those who associate themselves with democracy, to respect the will of the people and accept their choice,” stated Brotherhood leaders.

The deputy head of the Brotherhood’s new political party, Essam el-Erian noted in an interview that the Brotherhood would not impose Islamic values on Egypt, saying “we represent a moderate and fair party…we want to apply the basics of Shariah law in a fair way that respects human rights and personal rights.” Brotherhood political leaders have not stated that they would form a coalition with the Salafis, who came in second in the polls, despite many rumors, as the Salafis present “a challenge to the Muslim Brotherhood, in part by plunging it into a polarizing Islamist-against-Islamist debate over the application of Islamic law in Egypt’s promised democracy, a debate the Brotherhood had worked hard to avoid.”

However, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak expressed concern over the results of the elections, saying the gains by Islamist parties are “very, very disturbing.” U.S. State Department Spokesperson Mark Toner found the elections encouraging, stating that “we find that encouraging that there’s politics going on there, that there’s these kinds of discussions are taking place. Again, it’s very, very early. We don’t – we just have preliminary results. There’s a lot of elections that need to still be carried out, but we’re off to a very positive start.”