Demonstrators protest at an anti-Mubarak demonstration at the Society of Lawyers in downtown Cairo on September 1, 2005. Under intense security measures and with hundreds of riot troops deployed, demonstrators from three opposition parties, including the banned Muslim Brotherhood, gathered outside the Union of Lawyers in downtown Cairo calling on the ouster of incumbent President Hosni Mubarak, the release of political prisoners and suspension of emergency (martial) law under which Egypt has been ruled for over two decades. (UPI Photo/Stewart Innes) |
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CAIRO, Nov. 29 (UPI) -- At least nine people were killed and dozens of others were injured in election-day violence in Egypt, the opposition Muslim Brotherhood complains.
Egypt had parliamentary elections during the weekend. The ruling National Democratic Party was campaigning for political capital ahead of an expected re-election bid by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The Muslim Brotherhood, meanwhile, ignored calls for a boycott, saying the best way to reform the system was from within.
The Brotherhood said at least nine people were killed and several others were injured, including the family members of its independent candidates. Security forces, the opposition group said on its Ikhwan Web site, were forced to use tear gas to disperse crowds gathered at polling stations.
The opposition group said it didn't expect the election to be fair, but noted there were several accounts of ballot stuffing and bribery at the polls.
Cairo in a statement said more than 41 million people registered to vote for the 508 seats on the country's parliament. Of those, 64 seats were reserved for women.
Officials at the Egyptian Ministry of Information and the Supreme Electoral Commission denied reports of deaths and arrests.
Egypt didn't allow foreigners to monitor the poll, saying it amounted to outside interference. Early results suggested the ruling NDP was likely to win.
The Muslim Brotherhood is barred from competing openly, though its independent candidates took 20 percent of the seats in parliament in 2005 elections.
