As Egypt Runoffs Begin, a Roundup of Results

Today is the first day of the runoff round in the Egyptian elections, and so far turnouts seem low, with more reports of violations. One issue is that in many cases the runoffs are between candidates from the Muslim Brotherhood and the even more Salafi al-Nour party, leaving liberals, secularists, Copts, etc. with no obvious choice, though some argue one should vote for the MB as the lesser evil, since otherwise a strong al-Nour representation to the Brotherhood's right will pull the Brotherhood into a more hardline stance after it campaigned as a moderate force. For the first round, The Arabist has produced some useful charts and graphs of the results  

Jadaliyya  has also published results.

In the individual candidacies, women did not win seats in the first round; in at least one downtown constituency, the presence of two women candidates seems to have led to both losing. Ironically, the first woman to win a seat, in the proportional lists seats, represents the Muslim Brotherhood.

I think a real assessment of the meaning of the first phase elections will be clearer after the runoffs, but the overall strength of the Islamists is, clearly, the main story.