Egypt's ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) has retained its firm grip on power after winning most seats of the 454-member People's Assembly in the month-long legislative elections, official results showed Thursday.

The NDP, led by President Hosni Mubarak, has secured 326 seats after its candidates and allied independents snatched 103 seats of the total 121 seats in Wednesday's run-offs of the third and final phase of the elections.

The parliamentary elections are meant to decide 444 seats of the 454-member People's Assembly and the remaining 10 seats are appointed by the president.

However, after the final phase, only 432 seats have been decided so far, leaving 12 seats to be decided later because courts canceled election results in six constituencies due to violence or controversy.

Compared with the 404 seats that the NDP has in the outgoing People's Assembly, 326 is lower, but still more than the two- thirds majority it needs to push for constitutional amendments or pass emergency laws.

The banned but usually tolerated Islamist Muslim Brotherhood gained 88 seats, compared with the 15 seats it has in the outgoing Peoples' Assembly, thus reaffirming its role as the de facto largest opposition group in the most populous Arab country.

The parliamentary elections that kicked off on Nov. 9 and closed late Wednesday, were phased over three stages to make sure that there are enough judges and Justice Ministry officials to monitor the polling process in each stage.

Source: Xinhua