Tension runs high in 2nd round of Egypt election

National Democratic Party and sympathisers of the Muslim Brotherhood fight at the Raml district in the port city of Alexandria yesterday during the second round of the Egyptian parliamentary elections. PHOTO: AFP

The focal point of the second phase of the month-long election was the Islamist bastion of Alexandria, where tensions were running high between supporters of the Muslim Brothers and the ruling National Democratic Party of President Hosni Mubarak.

While the NDP's dominance is not in doubt after securing 112 out of 164 seats up for grabs in the first phase, the officially banned but tolerated Brotherhood won a surprise 34 constituencies, twice its tally in 2000.

With the second phase including many of their traditional strongholds, the Muslim Brothers could be on course to have 100 MPs in the 454-seat People's Asembly.

But observers predicted the NDP would not allow the Islamist movement to make such inroads and voiced fears the second phase could see widespread fraud and even violent clashes.

"This phase will be more tense than the first round. The government will try to interfere with the polling process in a bid to prevent the surge of the Muslim Brotherhood," prominent judge Yehya al-Rifai told AFP.

"There is a more fraud that the judges can cope with," he warned, stressing that the number of judges assigned to polling stations and the contingent of independent monitors would not be sufficient to prevent irregularities.