United Nations leader Ban Ki-moon has accused Egyptian security forces of using 'excessive' violence against protesters after a third straight day of deadly clashes in Cairo.
Ban is "very concerned by the resurgence of violence," his spokesman Martin Nesirky said on Sunday.
"The secretary-general is highly alarmed by the excessive use of force employed by the security forces against protesters and calls for the transitional authorities to act with restraint and uphold human rights, including the right to peaceful protest."
Ban also stressed "the importance of an atmosphere of calm to support Egypt's electoral process as part of its transition to democracy and the early establishment of civilian rule."
At least 10 people were killed in the latest unrest in the Egyptian capital on Sunday, overshadowing the count in the first post-revolution vote that shows Islamists in the lead.
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ISLAMISTS CLAIM ELECTION LEAD
Egypt's largest Islamist parties have claimed the lead in the second round of a multi-stage legislative election, confirming them as front-runners in the first post-revolution parliament.
The second round of elections, which took place in nine provinces over two days, saw a 67 per cent turnout, election commission chief Abdel Moez Ibrahim told reporters on Sunday.
The ruling military, which took power when Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February, has decided on a complex election system in which voters cast ballots for party lists, which will comprise two thirds of parliament, and for individual candidates for the remaining third of the lower house.
The Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice party (FJP) said it won 39 per cent of votes in the party lists, with no outright winner for their individual candidates who face a run-off on Wednesday.
The Al-Nur party, which represents the more hardline brand of Salafi Islam has claimed over 30 per cent of votes in the lists.
"We have won 39 per cent of the votes so far in the lists," the FJP office told AFP.
Al-Nur confirmed it had gained "over 30 per cent in the lists for the second round".
"The FJP is definitely number one; we have come second," Al-Nur spokesman Mohammed Nur told AFP, adding that most of their candidates will face a run-off on Wednesday.
Voting took place in a third of the country's 27 provinces. However, voting for the party lists was postponed until Wednesday in the Nile Delta provinces of Menufiya and Beheira and in the southern governorate of Sohag.
Islamist parties trounced their liberal rivals in the first round of the elections, which kicked off on November 28, securing about 65 per cent of all votes cast for parties.
The Muslim Brotherhood had been widely forecast to triumph as the country's most organised political group, well known after decades of charitable work and opposition to the 30-year regime of Hosni Mubarak.
But the showing from Salafist groups, which advocate a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam, was a surprise, raising fears of a more conservative and overtly religious 498-member new parliament.
The results in Egypt fit a pattern established in Tunisia and Morocco, where Islamists have also gained in elections as they benefit from the new freedoms brought by the pro-democracy movements of the Arab Spring.
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