Egypt's NEA Announces Results of Parliamentary Elections' 1st Stage

Head of the National Electoral Commission (NEC) Lasheen Ibrahim speaks during a news conference in Cairo, Egypt January 8, 2018. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
Head of the National Electoral Commission (NEC) Lasheen Ibrahim speaks during a news conference in Cairo, Egypt January 8, 2018. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
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Egypt's NEA Announces Results of Parliamentary Elections' 1st Stage

Head of the National Electoral Commission (NEC) Lasheen Ibrahim speaks during a news conference in Cairo, Egypt January 8, 2018. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
Head of the National Electoral Commission (NEC) Lasheen Ibrahim speaks during a news conference in Cairo, Egypt January 8, 2018. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany

The turnout in the first stage of Egypt's parliamentary elections was 28.6 percent, the National Electoral Commission (NEC) revealed, adding that the list of the Nation's Future Party won 142 seats.

Head of the NEC Lasheen Ibrahim said that all results were received from the public committees on the level of the 14 governorates where elections took place.

The Commission tackled 248 complaints, he added, noting that the results provided by committees were accurately revised.

The first stage of the elections took place in 14 governorates, namely: Giza, Fayoum, Beni Suef, Minya, Assiut, New Valley, Sohag, Qena, Luxor, Aswan, the Red Sea, Alexandria, Beheira, and Matrouh on 21, 22, and 23 Oct. abroad and on 24 and 25 in the country.

The parliament consists of 596 seats by which 568 seats are determined through individual and lists electoral system, while the president appoints 28 members.

The number of registered voters in the database reached 31,719,224 voters, Ibrahim noted.

The number of people casting their vote amounted to 9,069,929 out of which 7,300,027 were eligible in the 14 governorates.

Some candidates won individual seats from the first round, noting that 220 candidates were competing over 110 seats.

A run-off for the first stage will be held from 21 to 23 Nov. for Egyptian expats and on 23 and 24 Nov. for voters inside the country, Ibrahim added.



UN Begins Polio Vaccination in Gaza, as Fighting Rages

 Palestinians gather during a polio vaccination campaign, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, September 1, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians gather during a polio vaccination campaign, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, September 1, 2024. (Reuters)
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UN Begins Polio Vaccination in Gaza, as Fighting Rages

 Palestinians gather during a polio vaccination campaign, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, September 1, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians gather during a polio vaccination campaign, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, September 1, 2024. (Reuters)

The United Nations, in collaboration with Palestinian health authorities, began to vaccinate 640,000 children in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, with Israel and Hamas agreeing to brief pauses in their 11-month war to allow the campaign to go ahead.

The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed last month that a baby was partially paralyzed by the type 2 polio virus, the first such case in the territory in 25 years.

The campaign began on Sunday in areas of central Gaza, and will move to other areas in coming days. Fighting will pause for at least eight hours on three consecutive days.

The WHO said the pauses will likely need to extend to a fourth day and the first round of vaccinations will take just under two weeks.

'Complex’ campaign

"This is the first few hours of the first phase of a massive campaign, one of the most complex in the world," said Juliette Touma, communications director of UNRWA, the UN Palestinian refugee agency.

"Today is test time for parties to the conflict to respect these area pauses to allow the UNRWA teams and other medical workers to reach children with these very precious two drops. It’s a race against time," Touma told Reuters.

Israel and Hamas, who have so far failed to conclude a deal that would end the war, said they would cooperate to allow the campaign to succeed.

WHO officials say at least 90% of the children need to be vaccinated twice with four weeks between doses for the campaign to succeed, but it faces huge challenges in Gaza, which has been largely destroyed by the war.

"Children continue to be exposed, it knows no borders, checkpoints or lines of fighting. Every child must be vaccinated in Gaza and Israel to curb the risks of this vicious disease spreading," said Touma.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces continued to battle Hamas-led fighters in several areas across the Palestinian enclave. Residents said Israeli army troops blew up several houses in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, while tanks continued to operate in the northern Gaza City suburb of Zeitoun.

On Sunday, Israel recovered the bodies of six hostages from a tunnel in southern Gaza where they were apparently killed not long before Israeli troops reached them, the military said.

The war was triggered after Hamas fighters on Oct. 7 stormed into southern Israel killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages by Israeli tallies.

Since then, at least 40,691 Palestinians have been killed and 94,060 injured in Gaza, the enclave's health ministry says.