Nour lost his seat in the central Cairo district of Bab al-Shariya, which he had held for 10 years, to NDP candidate and former security officer Yahya Wahdan. ‘What happened today is not an election,’ Nour told reporters on 9 November, accusing the NPD of fraud and intimidation. Mohammed Mehdi Akef, leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, also blamed the ruling party of corruption, saying after casting his vote that ‘there is fraud everywhere, no transparency, no freedom. The regime is determined to continue on the path of corruption’.

The government has rejected the accusations. Egyptian Interior Ministry spokesman Ibrahim Hamad declared that there had been no major irregularities or disputes. About 1,500 candidates in eight governorates competed for about 180 of the 444 elected seats in the assembly.

The next two parliamentary election rounds will be held in another 18 governorates on 20 November and 1 December. Final results are expected to be announced by mid-December the earliest.

In September, President Mubarak won the country’s first multi-candidate presidential elections, giving him a fifth six-year mandate.