Police block polls in Egypt, one man shot to death
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-12-02 10:53

JOURNALISTS DETAINED

The voting process is officially under judicial supervision but the judges in charge cannot impose their will beyond the confines of the polling stations.

"I know what they (the riot police) are doing but there's nothing I can do about it," said one judiciary official in Bassat, three hours north of Cairo. He asked not to be identified.

The Egyptian Association for the Support of Democracy, an independent monitoring group, said one judge had threatened to walk out of a polling station with the ballot boxes if the police did not admit voters.

The Brotherhood, which had 15 seats in the outgoing parliament, has won 76 of 444 elected places so far. The authorities restricted voting in the previous stage of the poll, but the Brotherhood still managed to win 42 seats.

The ruling party has 214 seats so far.

Voting was peaceful on Thursday in some places, including Sohag province in the south. Violence has been less serious than in the last vote in 2000, when 10 people were killed.

The final two-day stage will decide 136 seats.

The Brotherhood is contesting only 49 places as part of its strategy of not provoking the authorities. Islamist candidates are contesting the seats as independents.

The Arab satellite channel Al Jazeera said security forces detained one of its crew.

Police also held Reuters correspondent Amil Khan in Sandoub for about an hour, saying they needed to check his identity.

Runoffs between the top two candidates will be held on December 7 for seats where no candidate has won a clear majority.