The third and final round of voting for Egypt’s lower house of parliament is completed, and the preliminary results trickling out suggest that the vote went much as it did in the first two rounds, with the top two spots going to the top two Islamist factions.
The Muslim Brotherhood’s “Freedom and Justice Party” again came out on top, with 37.5 percent of the popular vote, while the al-Nour Party once again scoring a second place finish. Runoff votes will take place next week to settle exact seat counts.
But given Egypt’s proportional representation system, the vote appears close to enough to net the Muslim Brotherhood a straight majority in seats, with a likely coalition government with al-Nour having an overwhelming majority in the parliament.
Whether or not the government will ever be formed, however, remains to be seen, as the Egyptian military junta has repeatedly condemned the election process and suggested that they will create a commission of their own that will write the constitution instead of letting parliament do it, which was supposed to be the whole reason for the election.