The Muslim Brotherhood claimed to have a lead on Wednesday in the early vote count in Egypt's first free election since army officers ousted the king in 1952. No official results in the parliamentary vote were out and one rival party said they doubted the Brotherhood's claim, but others provided estimates that appeared to back it. The results, if confirmed and repeated when the rest of the country votes in successive rounds of the staggered six-week election process, would give Egypt's oldest Islamist group a powerful bloc in the assembly. It could end up positioned for a power struggle with the generals who took over when Hosni Mubarak was ousted in a popular revolt in February.Progress toward democracy in the most populous Arab nation will help shape a region convulsed by popular uprisings against autocrats who, like Mubarak, often enjoyed Western support in part for their role in fighting militancy. 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. Egypt's complex electoral system and staggered voting means it may be difficult to predict the precise breakdown of parliament until the end of staggered voting on Jan. 11. Two-thirds of 498 lower house seats will be allocated proportionally by party lists and one third to individuals. The Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) said early indications showed it was ahead in both races.In the party list race it was followed by the ultra-conservative Islamist Al-Nour Party and the liberal Egyptian Bloc, it said in a statement. An FJP source, who declined to be named, said the FJP-led list had won about 40 percent of the party-list votes so far. The army council that has ruled since the uprising toppled Mubarak on Feb. 11 has said it will retain powers to choose or dismiss a cabinet. But the FJP's leader said on Tuesday the majority in parliament should form the government. The cabinet resigned last week amid demonstrations against army rule in which 42 people were killed. On Friday the generals picked Kamal Al-Ganzouri, a Mubarak-era premier, to form a new cabinet, which he has said will be ready this week.
