Dr. Hussein Khairy, became new head of the national syndicate, after receiving 6920 votes from a total of 14,912 during Friday’s elections, the judicial committee supervising the Doctors Syndicate election announced.

Khairy, former dean of the faculty of medicine at Cairo University, ran on the Independence List that won the majority of contested board member seats in the union's mid-term elections.

The mid-term elections, which are held every two years, open half of the syndicate's seats -- 12 out of 24 -- as well as half of the seats in every governorate branch for contest.

The Independence list won 11 out ofthe 12 contested seats.

In December 2013, the list had also won 11 of the syndicate's 12 board seats.

This means that the Independence List now holds the majority on the board.

The judicial committee announced that out of 249,000 registered doctors in Egypt, a mere 15,354 (6%) cast ballots in the Doctors Syndicate elections, with 442 void votes.

According to Al-Ahram Arabic news website, Rashwan Shaaban, the chief of the election supervisory committee blames non-participation by registered doctors -- particularly in Cairo and Giza -- for the low turnout.

Shaaban said that the highest turnout was in the Red Sea governorate with 35% participation, followed by 32% in Luxor, and 23% in both Minya and Fayoum.