20111204
Press TV
The head of Egypt's election commission says 62 percent of eligible voters cast ballots in the first round of parliamentary elections, hailing the turnout as the highest in Egypt's history.

Head of Egypt's High Judicial Elections Commission Abdel Moez Ibrahim announced the news late on Friday, calling the number "the highest since the time of pharaohs."

The parliamentary elections held on November 28-29 are the first since President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in a popular revolution in February.

The Muslim Brotherhood's political arm is expected to take the largest share of votes, followed by an Islamic party and a coalition of liberal parties called the Egyptian bloc.

More than 13 million voters went to the polls in the vote, the first of three rounds for the lower house.

Three other rounds lasting until March will elect the less powerful upper house.

The results come as Egyptians are staging mass demonstrations against the continued rule of the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF).

On Friday, protesters once again called for the downfall of SCAF, accusing it of moving against the country's popular revolution by using violence against civilians.

They also commemorated dozens of protesters killed near Liberation Square in the aftermath of the SCAF crackdown on pro-reform rallies ahead of the elections.