Banned Group Fares Well in Egyptian Runoff

The outlawed Muslim Brotherhood captured at least 25 more seats in Egypt’s parliament in a runoff vote Saturday, despite what appeared to be a determined government effort to block its supporters.

Police fired tear gas at several polling places and used rubber bullets at one. At another, a human rights worker reported that police kept out Brotherhood supporters, lifting their cordon only when ruling party supporters showed up in buses at sunset.

Senior Muslim Brotherhood member Ali Abdel Fattah said police arrested 680 members and supporters nationwide.

Prohibited from formally becoming a political party, the Brotherhood fields candidates as nominal independents whose sympathies are widely known by voters.

Preliminary Interior Ministry figures released early today showed the fundamentalist Brotherhood increasing its share in parliament to at least 72 seats, a more than fourfold jump over its representation in the outgoing parliament. That is with a third and final stage of voting still to go on Dec. 1 and another runoff likely six days after.

The outcome, if it becomes final, would give the Brotherhood enough seats to nominate a presidential candidate in 2011 under new constitutional rules.

Despite the Brotherhood’s impressive gains, the ruling National Democratic Party had claimed 122 seats going into the Saturday runoff and was certain to maintain control of the 454-member legislature. New results for the NDP were not available early today since its bloc in parliament also consists of nominally independent members who vote with the ruling party.

Election monitors complained that security forces blocked thousands of the 10 million eligible voters.

“Many polling stations are empty,” said Negad Borai, a monitor and human rights activist.

Interior Ministry spokesman Ibrahim Hammad said no polling centers were closed and denied that police were blocking voters.

In Laqana, a Nile Delta town about 100 miles north of Cairo, police blocked all voters from reaching the polls. Muslim Brotherhood candidate Khalad Saad Attayia hails from the town and was said to have near unanimous support.