Egypt: defeat for Muslim Brothers candidate in partial elections

News reports in Cairo said yesterday that a candidate for the Ikhwan al-Muslimin (Muslims Brothers) was defeated in partial elections in Damanhour to the North of Egypt before the candidate for the new liberal opposition al-Wafd party.

By the winning of al-Wafd candidate in the elections which was held in al-Bahreyah province, the number of parliamentarians of the Muslim Brothers group at the Egyptian People's Assembly ( parliament) decreased to 16. The two competitors to these elections were Muhammad Jamal Hishmat, the candidate for the Muslim Brothers and Muhammad Kheiri Qleij, the candidate for the new al-Wafd party. Hishmat had lost his seat in December 2002 after the decision to abrogate his election. Qleij got 16862 votes while his rival who took part in the elections as a candidate, Muhammad Jamal Ahmad Hishmat, got 965 votes.

The chairman of the Muslim brothers bloc at the Egyptian parliament Muhammad Mursi accused the ministry of the interior departments of preventing the supporters of the Muslims Brothers from casting their votes for Hishmat and preventing them from having access to the polling centers, noting that the security forces imposed a siege on all voting centers to prevent the Group's supporters from getting into the voting ballots.