Cairo, Nov 30: Egypt's influential Muslim Brotherhood group today claimed that it was leading in the initial count of results from the first phase of historic Parliamentary polls in the post-Mubarak era but also acknowledged that it was facing stiff competition from more hard-line Islamic parties.
Muslim Brotherhood, which was persecuted and banned during the 30-year rule of president Hosni Mubarak who was ousted in February following a popular uprising, claimed that their new Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) was ahead in preliminary results.
“From the start of the voting process until now (0300 IST), preliminary results show the Freedom and Justice party list ahead,” an FJP statement said after two days of voting for the first phase of polls which concluded yesterday.
The Nour Party, comprising ultra-conservative Islamic Salafis, was giving strong competition to FJP in the Nile Delta district Kafr el-Sheikh and Mediterranean province of Alexandria.
The FJP's strongest showing so far was in Fayoum, south of Cairo, followed by the Red Sea, Cairo and the southern city of Assiut, the statement said, adding that Nour Party was a strong competitor in Kafr el-Sheikh and Alexandria.
It did not provide the figures.
Liberal-secular alliance called the Egyptian Bloc was also reportedly doing well in some places.
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