Egypt’s NEA to Announce Results of 2nd Round of Parliamentary Elections on Sunday

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 to Announce Results of 2nd Round of Parliamentary Elections on Sunday

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

Egypt’s National Electoral Commission (NEC) will announce the results of the second round of parliamentary elections on Sunday.

Head of the NEC Lasheen Ibrahim said all results were received from the public committees on the level of the 13 governorates where elections took place as well as the votes by expatriates, noting that the results provided by committees were accurately revised.

The NEC has stressed that it is the only official body entrusted with announcing the final results of the elections.

It will hold a press conference on Sunday at Cairo’s Maspero building, headquarters of Egypt’s Radio and Television Union (ERTU), in the presence of local and foreign media, to announce the results of the second round of elections.

Ibrahim has earlier announced that the commission has not received any complaint that would affect the electoral process, asserting that any issue was dealt with in a professional and accurate manner.

During this round, which concluded last week, 2,085 candidates competed in a single-member district system in 70 constituencies, while the lists competed for 142 seats in the legislature.

The second round of elections took place in Cairo, Qalyubia, Menoufia, Daqahlia, Gharbiya, Kafr el-Sheikh, Sharqiya, Damietta, Port Said, Ismailia, Suez, North Sinai and South Sinai.

Around 31 million Egyptians were eligible to vote in 9,261 sub-committees, over 70 electoral districts, supervised by 12,000 judges, according to official figures.

The run-off elections will take place, depending on the results, on December 7 and 8 inside Egypt, and December 5, 6 and 7 for expatriates.

A total of 568 seats in the lower chamber are up for grabs in the election, with half the seats reserved for candidates running as individuals.

The other 50 percent of seats in the House of Representatives are for over 1,100 candidates running on four party lists. The president will name 28 seats, or five percent, bringing the total number of seats in the lower chamber to 596.

A quota of 25 percent of the seats is reserved for women, according to constitutional amendments approved in a national referendum last year.

The turnout in the first round of parliamentary elections was at 28.6 percent, the NEC had previously revealed.



Israel Announces New Strikes Against Yemen’s Houthis

Israel Announces New Strikes Against Yemen’s Houthis
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Israel Announces New Strikes Against Yemen’s Houthis

Israel Announces New Strikes Against Yemen’s Houthis

Houthi militias in Yemen said Israeli airstrikes on Thursday targeted Sanaa and the port city of Hodeidah, following several days of Houthi launches setting off sirens in Israel.

The Israeli military said it attacked infrastructure used by the Houthis at the international airport in Sanaa and ports at Hodeidah, Al-Salif and Ras Qantib along with Hezyaz and Ras Kanatib power stations. It came a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that “the Houthis, too, will learn what Hamas and Hezbollah and Assad’s regime and others learned.”

Netanyahu monitored the new strikes along with military leaders, his government said. The Iran-backed Houthis' media outlet confirmed the strikes in a Telegram post but gave no immediate details. The US military also has targeted the Houthis in Yemen in recent days.

Over the weekend, 16 people were wounded when a Houthi missile hit a playground in Tel Aviv. Last week, Israeli jets struck Sanaa and Hodeidah, killing nine people, calling it a response to previous Houthi attacks. The Houthis also have been targeting shipping on the Red Sea corridor, calling it solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

Israel has instructed its diplomatic missions in Europe to try to get the Houthis designated as a terrorist organisation.
The UN Security Council is due to meet on Monday over Houthi attacks against Israel, Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon said on Wednesday.