Egypt Live Blog

Protesters pray in Tahrir Square in Cairo [Reuters]

Al Jazeera staff and correspondents update you on important developments in Egypt as a new political landscape is shaped after a popular uprising forced Hosni Mubarak from power.

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3 hours 12 min ago - Egypt

Alex Mayyasi has sent Al Jazeera these pictures from Tahrir Square, where protesters gathered on Friday to mourn 42 people killed in the 10 days before the parliamentary vote.
Tags Alex Mayyasi, image, Tahrir Square
14 hours 42 min ago - Egypt
File 55616

Turnout in the first round of Egypt's parliamentary election was 62 per cent, Abdel Moez Ibrahim, the head of Egypt's Elections High Commission, told a news conference.

"This is the highest turnout in Egypt's history since pharaonic times until now," Ibrahim said.
The parliamentary election is the first since President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in a popular uprising in February.

More than eight million voters cast ballots in Monday and Tuesday's vote, the first of three rounds for the lower house.

Three other rounds lasting until March will elect the less powerful upper house.

Al Jazeera's Sherine Tadros, reporting from the Egyptian capital, Cairo, said: "Sixty-two per cent of voter turnout, that is about 8.5 million people that voted this week.

"As soon as that figure [was announced] everyone that was in attendance at the press conference started cheering and clapping."

Read our news story for more detail and context: Turnout reaches 62 per cent in Egypt poll 
Tags Abdel Moez Ibrahim, Egypt elections, Election Committee, Voter turnout
14 hours 54 min ago - Egypt
Kamal el-Ganzouri, Egypt's new prime minister, has started to name his cabinet, retaining several ministers from the  previous government including the foreign affairs chief, a report said.

Ganzouri, 78, was appointed on November 25 after days of deadly protests that pushed out the previous caretaker government of Essam Sharaf, who was perceived as weak in the face of the country's ruling military council.

A dozen ministers from Sharaf's cabinet will retain their portfolios, including Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamel Amr and Information Minister Osama Heikal, the official MENA news agency reported.

The final cabinet is to be announced on Saturday, according to state television.

Last week, tens of thousands of protesters had taken to the street to demand the ouster of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), and to reject the new premier's appointment.

Ganzouri, who was named prime minister two days before the first round of voting in landmark parliamentary elections, insisted that he has been given full powers by the military council.

On Monday and Tuesday, Egyptians in one third of the country's 27 provinces voted in the first parliamentary elections since president Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February.
Tags Egypt cabinet, Egypt elections, Kamal el Ganzouri
20 hours 28 min ago - Egypt

Egyptian state television says the results from the first stage of the country's election will be announced tonight at 8pm local (18GMT).

 

Tags EgyElections, SCAF
20 hours 42 min ago - Egypt

Though they started out small, numbers steadily increasing at pro-SCAF rally in Cairo's Abbassiya neighbourhood, Al Jazeera's Rawya Rageh reports.

RawyaRagehReal numbers in #Abbasiya not in the sq, but outside police academy.. Around 2500 or 3000 #Egypt #SCAFFri Dec 02 12:29:35

Tags Abbassiya, SCAF
20 hours 44 min ago - Egypt

Al Jazeera's Rawya Rageh reports from the Cairo neighbourhood of Abbassiya, where protesters have gathered in support of the ruling military government.

She tweets:

RawyaRagehPro #SCAF & pro police protest outside police academy in #Abbasiya #Egypt http://t.co/rq0zs9SRFri Dec 02 12:15:09

Tags Abbassiya, Rawya Rageh, SCAF
20 hours 52 min ago - Egypt

It's Friday in Egypt and protesters have filled the streets once again with two competing rallies.

Several hundred people gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square after Friday prayers to protest against the ruling military government as well as honour those killed in clashes with security forces near Tahrir Square late last month.

Just a short distance away, hundreds of others gathered in Cairo's Abbassiya neighbourhood to march in support of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, or SCAF.

Numbers at both protests were smaller than they had been in previous weeks, Al Jazeera's correspondents on the ground reported.

Tags Abbassiya, SCAF, Tahrir Square
1 day 3 hours ago - Egypt

Islamists appear to have taken a strong majority of seats in the first round of Egypt's first parliamentary vote since Hosni Mubarak's ouster, a trend that if confirmed would give religious parties a popular mandate in the struggle to win control from the ruling military.

Final results, expected Friday, will be the clearest indication in decades of Egyptians' true political views and give the long-banned Muslim Brotherhood a major role in the country's first freely elected parliament.

An Islamist majority could also herald a greater role for conservative Islam in Egyptian social life and shifts in foreign policy, especially toward Israel and the Palestinians - Associated Press

Tags Elections, Muslim Brotherhood
1 day 4 hours ago - Egypt

Former Arab League chief and Mubarak-era minister, Amr Moussa speaks to Al Jazeera's Sherine Tadros about his presidential ambitions. Moussa also addressed speculation about an overwhelming Islamist victory in Egypt's first post-Mubarak parliamentary elections.

Tags Amr Moussa, election, Muslim Brotherhood
1 day 12 hours ago - Egypt

Kamal el-Ganzouri, Egypt's prime minister delegate, addressed the nation in a pre-recorded statement aired on state television.

In the address, delivered on the eve of a planned mass rally in Tahrir Square, he said:

- I've met with different groups, including youth.  Some ministers will stay from the old cabinet, others will go.

- I met with six possible candidates, but no final decisions

- Will continue consultations on Friday and hopefully form a cabinet maybe by Saturday

- Main priority of the new cabinet is restoring security on the streets
- This post is a heavy burden, it's actually "suicidal" 

- The new cabinet will have at least two women and three young members

He also reiterated that the parliament does not form the government, the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces does.

Tags Kamal el Ganzouri, SCAF, Tahrir Square

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