Boycott threat overshadows last stage of Egypt vote

Banned under Hosni Mubarak, the Muslim Brotherhood has emerged as a major winner from the uprising that toppled him, exploiting a well-organized support base in the first free legislative vote in decades.

Islamists of various stripes are expected to win 60 percent of the 498-seat lower house, with the Brotherhood taking some 41 percent, by its own count.

Run-offs scheduled to take place on Tuesday and Wednesday and a rerun in a district where the vote was cancelled in the first round due to irregularities, are set to fill the 11 percent of seats as yet undecided, according to Brotherhood figures.

The outcome of the runoffs and rerun are unlikely, however, to alter the dominance of the Islamists who now look set to wield major influence over the shape of a new constitution to be drafted by 100-strong body that the new assembly will pick.

The Brotherhood has promised that Egyptians of all persuasions will have their say. The strong Islamist performance has alarmed some liberal Egyptians and Western governments that backed Mubarak, but it is far from clear whether rival Islamists will form any alliance in the new assembly.