Final Egypt tally 'will be more balanced'

CAIRO, Dec. 5 (UPI) -- Final figures will be less skewed than the 61 percent Islamist parliamentary majority reported in Egypt's first-round elections, a presidential candidate said.

"The ... final results, I believe, will be more balanced," independent candidate Amr Moussa, a former Egyptian foreign minister and Arab League secretary-general, said as a two-day runoff election was to begin Monday to fill seats in the new Parliament's lower chamber, known as the People's Assembly.

Still, last week's results released Sunday -- giving the mainstream Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party 36.6 percent and the ultraconservative Salafi Islamists Nour Party 24.4 percent -- "is a message to the liberal forces that they have to come together and ... mobilize themselves in order to create a strong opposition within the Parliament," Moussa told CNN.

The Brotherhood movement, which seeks to expand Islamic law in many Middle Eastern countries, prevailed in two days of balloting that began a week ago. The balloting included voters in Cairo and Alexandria, cities where liberal parties said they hoped to exhibit their greatest strength.

The Brotherhood's party, which says it is moderate and emphasizes tolerance and pluralism, is accused by opposition leaders of using tactics similar to those of overthrown President Hosni Mubarak to sway voters to its side, the Egyptian daily al-Ahram reported Monday.

The party denies the accusations, saying any Supreme Electoral Commission violations, such as having party delegates in front of polling stations, were insignificant and were needed to facilitate the balloting by an overwhelming number of voters.

The commission said 9.7 million valid votes were cast last week.

The Nour Party, formed in January with the revolution that overthrew Mubarak, maintains an exacting version of Islam and seeks to impose strict Islamic law similar to that in Saudi Arabia in which women must be veiled and alcohol is banned.

Islamists have also formed governments in Tunisia and Morocco and are positioned for a major role in Libya after the ouster and killing of Moammar Gadhafi, The New York Times reported.

Egyptians cast three votes last week -- two for independent candidates and one for a party or coalition.

Four independent candidates secured seats. But 52 other seats remained undecided because no candidate won a clear majority, leading to this week's runoff.

Two more voting rounds, one starting Dec. 15 and the second starting Jan. 3, are to take place in 18 of Egypt's 27 provinces for a total of 498 elected seats. Ten additional seats are to be appointed by the ruling military council.

The final election results are to be announced in January.

A three-round election for the upper house, known as the Shura Council, or the Consultative Council, is to follow, starting Jan. 29 and ending March 11.

The new Parliament was initially charged with selecting a 100-member committee to draft a new constitution. But the ruling military council that has run Egypt since Mubarak was ousted Feb. 11 has given contradictory indications about how much parliamentary input it will allow,. It has indicated it might choose 80 of the 100 committee members.

The new constitution would then to be submitted to a referendum, the council said.

Assuming it passes, a presidential election would be held by June 30, the council said.