Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood won a majority of run-off contests in the first round of a parliamentary election, the electoral commission said, consolidating its position as clear front-runners in the historic ballot.
The Muslim Brotherhood won by far the biggest share of seats allocated to party lists in Egypt's first freely-elected parliament in decades, final results confirmed, and it named one of its top officials to lead the assembly.
The Muslim Brotherhood is reaching out to rivals including politicians knocked out of the presidential race in an attempt to rally support around its own candidate who faces a runoff against Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister, Ahmed Shafiq.
Egypt's government struggled to regain control of an angry nation, inviting Islamist opponents to political talks as protesters demanding the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak battled with his supporters on the streets.
The Muslim Brotherhood said would be enter into dialogue with Vice President Omar Suleiman to pull Egypt out of its worst crisis in 30 years.
Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood called on its rivals to accept the will of the people after a first-round vote set its party on course to take the most seats in the country's first freely elected parliament in six decades.