The losing streak for Muslim Brotherhood candidates in student union elections across the nation continued on Monday, when Brotherhood members won only two seats in the elections staged by Alexandria University's Faculty of Commerce.

The first defeat occurred on Saturday at Assiut University, where Brotherhood candidates won only 2 percent of the union seats. Popular Current and Independent Current members secured the majority with 73 percent of seats, while the Strong Egypt Party grabbed 25 percent of the seats. Two Copts were elected to share the post of assistant secretary, one of them a woman, a first in the university's history.

There was a high voter turnout at Ain Shams University on Monday, the first day of its student union elections. More than 600 Faculty of Arts students voted today, as did dozens of Faculty of Science students. Brotherhood candidates accused students affiliated with opposition parties of smearing their campaign by writing the word "Brotherhood" across all the posters, distracting the student voters. Hundreds of students in the Faculties of Commerce, Computers and Information and Pharmacology also voted.

At Cairo University, students in the "New Step" group, which runs on the revolutionary coalitions list in the Faculty of Commerce, accused some students of smashing their information booth and tearing down their banners.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

