Islamists win big in Egyptian elections

CAIRO, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- Islamist parties won 60 percent of parliamentary posts in Egypt's first of three rounds of national elections, the Arabic al-Jazeera news agency reported.

Initial counts release Friday indicated the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party won 40 percent of the vote and the fundamentalist al-Nour Party took 20 percent, the report said.

Egypt's electoral process for the 498 parliamentary seats takes place in three stages in nine of 27 provinces. Two more nine-province elections are scheduled before the end of January, the BBC said.

Election officials said 62 percent of eligible voters turned out for the vote.

The country has been in political and social turmoil since January when pro-democracy protests began that led to the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak. He stepped down in February and went on trial in May on corruption and abuse of power charges.