"Below Zero": Egypt's Liberals Crushed by Islamist Majority in Elections [View all]

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.albawaba.com/editorchoice/below-zero-egypts-liberals-crushed-islamist-majority-elections-407918

Published January 5th, 2012 - 13:59 GMT via SyndiGate.info

The liberal groups that were the vanguard of last year's protests are facing the challenge of remaining relevant in a political future that will be dominated by Islamist groups after voting for lower house of parliament ended yesterday.

"We are going to start not from scratch, but from below zero," said Ahmed Said, the head of the liberal alliance known as the Egypt Bloc and winner of a parliamentary seat in Cairo.

"Unfortunately, we now see a much larger right-wing majority in the parliament. There is going to be a lot of conflict on issues like the constitution."

The elections chronicled the abrupt reversal of fortune for the youth groups and liberal political movements that took to the streets on January 25 last year to demand the end of the regime of Hosni Mubarak.