The result of a first-round vote in Egypt's first parliamentary election since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak will be announced tomorrow officials said.
The results will come a day later than planned because of a high turnout and the slow arrival of results from abroad.
The party of the Muslim Brotherhood, contesting its first elections unencumbered by restrictions on its activities, says it is leading in an initial count, but analysts say the presence of so many first-time voters makes the result hard to predict.
The result was delayed because the High Elections Commission was still waiting for deliveries of votes from Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia where millions of Egyptians work, officials at the commission said.
It also blamed a high turnout in the two-day vote, estimated by a member of the ruling army council yesterday at more than 70 per cent - far higher than discredited elections of the Mubarak era. Monitors said turnout was more than 50 per cent.
"The judges have not finished counting until now because of the very high turnout," said Yousry Abdel Karim, the vice president of the High Elections Commission.
Another official at the commission said voting had taken longer than expected in the capital Cairo and other areas.
Abdel Karim said the elections body had not received any indication of the result, although parties who can send represents to monitor the count have given their own estimates.
One party said it doubted the alliance led by the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) had won 40 per cent of the vote, as stated by an FJP source, but other parties provided estimates that were in line with the figure.
The results, if confirmed and repeated in the two remaining phases of a six-week election process, would position the |Brotherhood to jostle for power with the military council that replaced Hosni Mubarak in February after a popular uprising.
The council, under increasing pressure to make way for civilian rule, has said it will retain powers to choose or dismiss a cabinet. But the FJP leader said on Tuesday the majority in parliament should form the government.
The Brotherhood's party has already said it wants coalition partners. That might force it towards pragmatic policies and compromises on its Islamist principles.
Elsewhere, Islamist parties in Morocco and Tunisia have come out on top in parliamentary elections in the past two months, although in both those countries they campaigned as moderates.
Reuters