CAIRO, Egypt — President Hosni Mubarak's ruling party comfortably held its majority in parliament but the opposition made gains in Egyptian elections, according to preliminary results published Wednesday.
In voting marred by 10 killings and charges of irregularities, the National Democratic Party won a preliminary total of 312 of the legislature's 444 elected seats. Independent candidates won 95 seats, but most of them are expected to declare their allegiance to the ruling party, as happened after 1995 legislative elections.
Legal opposition parties took 16 seats, and nominally independent candidates backed by the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood won 17 seats. That adds up to only 33 seats if the preliminary results stand — a tiny minority in the legislature, but about twice as many as the groups controlled before.
Votes were still being counted in two seats where runoffs between the two leading candidates were held Tuesday. The polls in two other constituencies have been postponed by court order.
Final runoffs were held Tuesday in more than 50 districts, and clashes between opposition supporters and police erupted at several polling stations. Five people were killed and 40 wounded when police fired bullets and tear gas.
The violence erupted after police blocked supporters of independent and opposition candidates from entering polling stations. Similar clashes between security forces and frustrated voters occurred during earlier voting in the three-stage elections, which began Oct. 18.
The Muslim Brotherhood, which wants to turn Egypt into an Islamic state, said it would have won more seats if security forces had not prevented its supporters from voting. And legal opposition parties used their newspapers to decry the conduct of the polling.
"Flagrant bias by the security forces in favor of the National party," declared a headline in Al-Wafd, the newspaper of the liberal Wafd party, which won only six seats. "Runoff conducted under tight security siege," said a headline in Al-Ahrar, the paper of the Liberal Party, which took one seat.
The government has denied interfering in the elections and said the violence sprang from rivalry among the candidates' supporters.
The NDP held 97 percent of the outgoing parliament. The 1995 elections, which were also marred by allegations of rigging and violence, left 87 people dead and more than 1,500 wounded.