Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood has further boosted its strength in parliament, winning 28 seats on Saturday in legislative elections despite restrictions on voting, the opposition movement announced Sunday.
Brotherhood deputy leader Mohamed Habib told Reuters the wins indicated the strength of his movement.
The movement, which is officially outlawed, has now gained 75 seats in the parliament with just less than a third of the places still to be contested. The Brotherhood had 15 seats in the outgoing parliament. The preliminary Interior Ministry figures released early Sunday showed the Brotherhood increased its share in parliament to at least 72 seats.
According to Habib, the movement will field 49 candidates in the third and final round of voting which starts on Dec. 1.
Despite the Brotherhood’s impressive wins, the ruling National Democratic Party had claimed 122 seats going into the Saturday runoff and was sure to maintain control of the 454-member chamber.
