8 December 2011<\/p>\n
He’s young, handsome and a defender of women’s rights. Amr Hamzawy, a leading Egyptian liberal, withstood an Islamist landslide in Egypt’s election to emerge as a leading light for the movement.<\/p>\n
The 44-year-old academic stood for parliament from the wealthy Cairo district of Heliopolis where he trounced his main rival, a candidate from the Muslim Brotherhood, with 53.7 percent of the vote.<\/p>\n
The victory had a symbolic value for the foreign-educated professor at the University of Cairo and staunch critic of former strongman Hosni Mubarak, who was overthrown in February after an 18-day uprising.<\/p>\n
Heliopolis, a suburban home to upmarket apartment blocks and restaurants, was the former constituency of the autocrat, who used to vote there during the deeply flawed elections held during his 30-year rule.<\/p>\n
The opening round of the first elections in the post-Mubarak era wrapped up on Tuesday, revealing a thumping victory for the more moderate Islamist movement of the Muslim Brotherhood coupled with a surge by religious hardliners.<\/p>\n
In total, Islamist parties picked up 113 seats out of 168 up for grabs in the first round of voting for the new parliament, state media reported on Thursday.<\/p>\n
“Islamist currents were already present on the political scene and in Egyptian society,” Hamzawy told AFP from his office in Heliopolis. “I was under no illusion about the prospect of a victory for liberals.”<\/p>\n
At least in his own constituency, he picked up three times the number of votes of his Brotherhood rival, he notes, attributing it to a clear and well-organised campaign.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, secular liberals who played a key role in the uprising against Mubarak were divided and disorganised, outmanoeuvered by the Islamists and unable to get their message across.<\/p>\n
In the voting for parties in the first round, they won 33 seats, a total split between at least six different coalitions and other independents like Hamzawy.<\/p>\n
Asked about the ultra-conservative Salafist movement, which advocates a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam, he played down fears the cultural heart of the Arab world and its most populous nation was turning into Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n
The Salafist Al-Nur party won a quarter of the party vote in the first round.<\/p>\n
“I don’t worry about their entry into parliament. On the contrary, it’s better that they take part, it will moderate their views,” he says, pointing to the experiences of extreme-right groups in European politics.<\/p>\n
“Egypt is neither Afghanistan nor Saudi Arabia. It’s Egypt with moderate Islam,” he says.<\/p>\n
His own positions naturally clash with those of his conservative political rivals and he has emerged as a prominent spokesman for the liberals, appearing as a regular panelist on television.<\/p>\n
During the January-February uprising against Mubarak, he also emerged as an eloquent figure among the protesters.<\/p>\n
He advocates the idea of non-religious marriage in Egypt, a quota for women on the boards of companies, and is a defender of the rights of the 8-million-strong Egyptian Christian community.<\/p>\n
“I’m in favour of a Christian woman being able to stand for the job of president of the republic,” he says.<\/p>\n
The gulf between his views and those of some of his Salafist rivals is huge.<\/p>\n
A prominent leader said last week that Christians should only be able to hold office if Israel allowed a Muslim to become president, while another said even mixed sex workplaces were “unacceptable.”<\/p>\n
Hamzawy stood in the election as an independent as he waits for registration of his Egyptian Freedom Party.<\/p>\n
He was initially part of the main liberal alliance, the Egyptian bloc, but left it due to differences over the choice and competence of candidates.<\/p>\n
The new MP, who studied in Cairo, Berlin and the Netherlands, hopes that his fellow liberal colleagues can unite to become a powerful counterweight to the Islamist parties who are set to be the dominant force.<\/p>\n
The elections for the lower house will end only in January when the country completes the voting process which is unfolding in three phases.<\/p>\n
Hamzawy, whose tousled hair has become a sort of trademark, was research director and senior associate at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, and a prominent editorialist in Egyptian newspapers.<\/p>\n
He used one of his columns in August to declare his love for his girlfriend, the well-known Egyptian actress Basma.<\/p>\n
Many said the gesture was political suicide for a divorced aspiring politician with two children from his former marriage to a German woman. The ballot box has proved the contrary.<\/p>\n
ANP\/AFP<\/em><\/p>\nAllAfrica – All the Time<\/p>\n
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8 December 2011 He’s young, handsome and a defender of women’s rights. Amr Hamzawy, a leading Egyptian liberal, withstood an Islamist landslide in Egypt’s election to emerge as a leading light for the movement. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n
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