Ruling Party Wins; Islamists Gain Seats

President Hosni Mubarak’s ruling party was on course for an overwhelming victory in Egypt’s violence-plagued parliamentary elections, despite gains for candidates backed by a banned Islamist group. According to Interior Ministry officials, Mubarak’s National Democratic Party won 106 of 134 seats. Nine candidates from the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, running as independents, also won. The Brotherhood, the nation’s largest Islamic group, wants to govern Egypt as an Islamic state but has forsworn violence in its quest. The third and final round of voting, for 160 seats, begins Wednesday.