Results of the initial stage of Egypt’s first poll since the fall of Hosni Mubarak’s regime are to be announced on Friday, after being delayed twice.

Results of the initial stage of Egypt’s first poll since the fall of Hosni Mubarak’s regime are to be announced on Friday, after being delayed twice.

Election commission has again delayed the release of results, saying counting was still taking place.
The results, which had already been pushed back from Wednesday evening until Thursday, will now be released on Friday, the official MENA news agency quoted chief electoral official Abdel Moez Ibrahim as saying.

The delay was necessary "as the counting of votes is still going on in a number of districts because of the large number of voters who took part in these elections," said Ibrahim.
 
The vote on Monday and Tuesday in nine provinces from Egypt’s 27 was the first of three stages when voters went to the polls to elect a new lower house of parliament.
The rest of the country follows next month and in January. Results for the party list seats, which make up two-thirds of the People's Assembly, will not be available until January.

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
Unofficial results from the sources within the parties said that the Muslim Brotherhood's political party, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), had emerged ahead in the poll.

A source in the FJP said on Wednesday that the party had won roughly 40 per cent of the vote, according to its own exit polls.
The best results came in Fayoum governorate, south of Cairo; the source also said the FJP polled well in Cairo, Assiut and Red Sea governorates.

The party's toughest competition was in Alexandria and Kafr al-Sheikh governorates, where al-Nour, a Salafi party, reportedly performed well.