Egypt's ruling party secures two-thirds of parliamentary seats

Egypt's ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) has secured an over two-thirds majority in the 454- member People's Assembly, according to initial election results released on Thursday.

The NDP, led by President Hosni Mubarak, won at least 102 seats on Wednesday's run-offs of the third and final phase of the parliamentary elections.

The latest gains have brought the NDP's seat tally in the parliament to around 324, more than the two-thirds absolute majority it needs to make changes to the constitution.

Meanwhile, the banned but usually tolerated opposition Muslim Brotherhood has won at least 87 seats so far, nearly six times of its 15 seats in the outgoing parliament, after securing 11 more seats in Wednesday's voting,

The last of six rounds of voting in Egypt's marathon parliamentary elections, which kicked off on Nov. 9, closed late Wednesday.

The elections 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.

The second and third phases started on Nov. 25 and Dec. 1 respectively. Run-offs were held six days after the first round of voting of each stage.

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.

Source: Xinhua