Brotherhood gets 12 parly seats

2005-12-08 12:13

Cairo - Preliminary results in Egypt's elections on Thursday gave the leading opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, a record 19% of parliament, with the ruling party and its allies holding an overwhelming majority after a four-week election with unprecedented political violence.

The results leaked by an official in the interior ministry, which oversaw the election, came a day after no fewer than eight people were killed as police battled to stop voters reaching polling stations in Muslim Brotherhood strongholds.

The ministry official said that in Wednesday's polling, the Brotherhood won 12 seats, the National Democratic Party of President Hosni Mubarak and its allies took 111 seats, and the opposition front two seats. Two more seats remained undecided.

12 seats still undecided

If confirmed, the tolls from Wednesday's run-offs would give the ruling NDP and its allies 333 seats in the parliament and the Brotherhood 88 seats.

Other opposition parties and independents would have 21 seats. A total of 12 seats were undecided and reruns were expected to be held.

The parliament held 454 seats of which 10 were appointed by the president - a privilege that tended to be used to increase the representation of women and the Coptic Christian minority.

Democratic reform

The results meant that the Brotherhood - a group that was banned, but tolerated with restriction - had won almost six times the 15 seats it held in the outgoing assembly.

Under the United States pressure to bring about democratic reform, President Mubarak gave the Brotherhood unusual leeway in the campaign, but his security forces cracked down after the first round of polling on November 9 after it became evident that the Islamic group had far more popular support than expected.

In Wednesday's polling, as in the second and third rounds, lines of police officers in riot gear blockaded numerous polling stations in opposition strongholds.

- AP