Opposition leader loses seat

2005-11-10 13:09

Cairo - The leader of Egypt's opposition Ghad party Ayman Nur lost his parliamentary seat two months after emerging as Hosni Mubarak's main rival in the presidential elections, the electoral commission said on Thursday.

The 40-year-old lawyer was beaten by ruling National Democratic Party candidate Yehya Wahdan in his own Cairo stronghold of Bab al-Shariya, commission secretary general Intissar Nessim announced on television.

Nessim was announcing partial results fom the first round of elections that kicked off on Wednesday in 82 constituencies across Egypt.

Nur rose to prominence and attracted international attention after being remanded in custody for six weeks earlier this year over forgery charges he said were trumped up to undermine his political ascension.

In September, Nur had emerged as the strongest of the eight candidates who challenged Hosni Mubarak, by mustering 7.6% of the vote against the veteran president's 88.6%.

Since then, his party has been plagued by internal dissent he charged was engineered by the regime to weaken his parliamentary campaign, which was also hampered by his forgery trial.

Nur, who also lost his father during the campaign, was under no illusion that he would retain his seat.

"I'm sure he will not be re-elected. The regime will resort to its old methods. It's very important for them not to let him have more political legitimacy," his wife and spokesperson Gamila Ismail had told AFP before the campaign kicked off.

- AFP