Muslim Brotherhood Wins Nearly 50 Percent Of Parliamentary Seats

An elderly man is helped by army soldiers before casting his vote during Egypt's parliamentary elections last month.

Egypt's electoral commission says the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) party has won the largest number of seats in the Egyptian parliament.

Announcing final results from the parliamentary polls, the commission said the Islamist FJP won 235 seats in the new People's Assembly, 20 short of an absolute majority.

The ultra-conservative Salafist Al Nur party is in second place with 121 seats or nearly 25 percent, while the liberal Wafd Party follows with nearly nine percent, which should see it win 45 seats in the new 508-seat parliament.

Egyptians had voted to elect 498 members of the People's Assembly. Ten further members are appointed by the ruling military.

Egypt's parliamentary election is the first since the overthrow of former president Hosni Mubarak in February last year.

The election was launched in November and carried out in three stages over the course of six weeks.

compiled from agency reports