CAIRO (Updated) - Egyptians voted on Sunday in a run-off parliamentary election which President Hosni Mubarak's party will win almost unchallenged after the two biggest opposition groups quit a contest they said was rigged. The National Democratic Party (NDP), which has never lost a vote, is sure of a crushing victory after the Muslim Brotherhood and liberal Wafd party withdrew. The fiercest run-off races are where NDP candidates are pitted against each other. The Brotherhood, the biggest opposition group with a fifth of seats in the outgoing parliament, won no seats in the first round. Wafd won two. Egyptian monitors cited ballot box stuffing, voter intimidation by hired thugs and other abuses. "I am boycotting these elections. They are a sham, anyone can see that," said Mansour Abdel-Fattah, 22, a Brotherhood supporter from the Delta city of Mansoura. "I applaud the Brotherhood's decision to boycott, of course, Wafd as well," Abdel-Fattah said in Cairo. He said he would not travel home to vote, as he did in the first round. Officials said voting on Nov. 28 was fair, and any complaints were being checked but did not undermine the vote. Analysts said the government wanted to shove Islamist and other critics out of the assembly to deny them a platform before the 2011 presidential election. "The first round showed the government was not going to give any space to the opposition. The new people's assembly is not for the people. It is simply another NDP committee with a single purpose: securing presidential succession in the 2011 vote," Wafd party member Ashraf Balbaa told Reuters. Investors are still betting on a smooth leadership transition but say the government has betrayed some possible unease before the presidential race by sweeping out almost all opposition from the assembly. "For the government to be getting more iron-fisted in its approach is never a good sign as it could represent weakness rather than strength," said John Sfakianakis, MENA region chief economist for Credit Agricole. He said that could hit foreign demand for equities, though treasury bills would remain attractive because of high yields. Egypt's main share index has dipped 4 per cent since topping 7,000 points five days before the first-round vote. Of the original 508 seats up for grabs, there are run-offs for 283 seats where no candidate won outright first time around. In many seats, NDP candidates are pitted against each other as the ruling party fielded many more candidates than seats for this election, partly in bid to squeeze the Brotherhood. The Brotherhood, which campaigns for an Islamic state, skirts a ban on religious parties by fielding candidates as independents. The group said this year that squeezing its moderate voice out could encourage militants to emerge.
