Egyptians vote in parliamentary run-off election

CAIRO, June 18 (Reuters) Egyptians cast ballots today in a run-off election for 16 seats in the upper house of parliament following an initial vote last week that was marred by allegations of vote-rigging in favour of the ruling party.

President Hosni Mubarak's National Democratic Party won 69 of 88 seats in the first round of Shoura Council elections on June 11, and that number rose to 70 after one pro-NDP candidate ceded to another member of the ruling party. Only two non-NDP candidates won seats outright.

Last week's poll, for half the elected seats in the Shoura Council, was a test case for constitutional and legislative changes banning religious slogans and symbols as Egypt prepares for a transition of power from its ageing president.

The opposition Muslim Brotherhood and rights groups said irregularities were widespread during the first round of elections.

But an election commission official has said nothing happened during the first vote to ''disturb the serenity'' of the election.

Rights group Sawasya reported ballot stuffing in favour of NDP candidates in at least three provinces during today's run-off vote.

Scuffles also broke out between supporters of opposing candidates in the Nile Delta province of Manoufiya, injuring three people, an Egyptian journalist who witnessed the scuffles said.

''Thugs expelled representatives of an independent candidate from some polling places and stuffed ballot boxes in favour of the ruling party candidate,'' she said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The ruling party is expected to take the vast majority of remaining seats because candidates in the run-off are all either members of the ruling party or independents, most of whom are believed to be NDP supporters not on the party's official ticket, parliamentary sources said.

The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's most influential opposition group, failed to win any seats in the first round of voting and none of its 19 candidates won the right to stand in the run-off, according to figures provided by Egypt's election commission.

Only two candidates from outside the NDP, one from the leftist Tagammu party and an independent, won seats outright.

In an election for the lower house of parliament in 2005, the Brotherhood won nearly a fifth of seats, alarming the government which began a fresh crackdown on the Islamist movement late last year. Before last week's vote, police detained more than 700 Brotherhood members and activists.

REUTERS SG RAI2254