Egypt winds up parliament elections as violence mars run- offs

Egypt's month-long parliamentary elections ended Wednesday amid continued violence and a heavy police presence.

The initial election results showed Thursday that the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) has secured a clear majority in the 454-member People's Assembly.

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 elections, which have brought the NDP's seat tally in the parliament to around 324, more than the two-thirds absolute majority it needs to control the constitution.

Meanwhile, the banned but usually tolerated Muslim Brotherhood has won at least 87 seats so far, nearly six times the 15 seats it had in the outgoing parliament, after securing another 11 seats in Wednesday's voting.

Egypt's secular opposition parties, which have been loosing ground ever since the polls started, have won just a handful of seats.

During the run-offs in Wednesday elections, at least three Egyptians were killed and many others injured on Wednesday in violence that broke out, the official MENA news agency reported.

Meanwhile, a candidate was admitted to hospital after an unidentified person threw a stone at him while polls were closing in Tama town in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Sohag, 400 km south of Cairo, MENA said.

In another development, police arrested four people on charges of rioting and setting fire to tires on the highway linking Sohag to Asyuit province, it added.

According to MENA, a total of four Egyptians have died in election-related violence since the polls began on Nov. 9, while some journalists and independent monitors complained that they were repeatedly roughed up and prevented from accessing polling stations.

The elections were phased over three stages, which kicked off on Nov. 9, 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, of which 10 seats are appointed by the president.

The new People's Assembly will swear in on Dec. 13 and Mubarak will address a joint meeting of the new People's Assembly and Shura Council on Dec. 17.

Mubarak also told reporters on Tuesday that he would re-shuffle the cabinet at the end of this month or early next year.

Source: Xinhua