Reed Lindsay reports from Egypt: Opposition united in denouncing runoff elections as a sham.
Viewpoint: Egypt election 'blunder' by Mubarak's NDP .
Egypt may very well have just experienced the most fraudulent parliamentary elections in its recent history.
The main parliamentary opposition, the Muslim Brotherhood, was reduced from 20% of the seats in the previous parliament to zero.
The second largest group, the liberal Wafd party, won a mere three seats in the first round of elections (out of a total of 518 seats). The results strained the credulity of even those most sympathetic to the regime.
Egypt has in the past at least allowed the appearance of democracy, though not necessarily the substance. Within constraints, the opposition was allowed to participate.
The parliament, while ultimately dominated by the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), had, in recent years, come somewhat alive. There was a relatively boisterous independent press. Elections were rigged but not stolen outright.
BBC News | 10 December 2010 - read full report :
