ALEXANDRIA (Egypt), Nov 20: The second round of Egypt’s parliamentary election was marred by deadly violence and voter intimidation on Sunday as the regime appeared bent on curbing the surge of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

The month-long polls that kicked off on November 9 claimed their first victim when the driver for an independent candidate was beaten to death by thugs hired by the ruling National Democratic Party, independent vote monitors said.

“What is happening today is beyond imagination. Which other country uses drugged-up thugs to beat up the sons of the nation? They are ready to use their knives to prevent citizens from voting,” local Brotherhood candidate Mahmud Attiyah told AFP.

Sources at Alexandria hospital confirmed the death of Mohammed Khalil, a 37-year-old father of three who worked as a driver for NDP renegade Hassan Hussein Hassan.

A second independent candidate, Seif Eddin al-Kabbari, was stabbed by unknown men in the Karmuz district of Alexandria. His condition was believed to be serious.

An AFP correspondent reporting from a polling station in Karmuz said Kabbari had been present when clashes broke out between his supporters and NDP men.

The Mediterranean city saw most of the violence, which pitted supporters of the banned but tolerated Muslim Brotherhood against NDP supporters armed with knives and sometimes drugged or drunk.

“The situation is getting worse and worse, and the operation is deteriorating in many spots, we have a lot of examples of interference in favour of the NDP,” said Sherif Mansur of the independent Ibn Khaldun Centre for Development Studies.

Observers and opposition parties said the violence stemmed from a willingness on the part of veteran President Hosni Mubarak’s NDP to prevent the Muslim Brotherhood from making further political gains.

While the NDP’s dominance is not in doubt after securing 112 out of 164 seats up for grabs in the first phase, the Brotherhood won a surprise 34 seats, twice its tally in 2000.

With the second phase including many of their traditional strongholds, the Muslim Brothers could be on course for 100 MPs in the 454-seat People’s Assembly.

“This phase will be more tense than the first round. The government will try to interfere with the polling process in a bid to prevent the surge of the Muslim Brotherhood,” prominent judge Yehya al-Rifai had told AFP.

“There is more fraud than the judges can cope with,” he warned, stressing that the number of judges assigned to polling stations and the contingent of independent monitors would not be sufficient to prevent irregularities.

Security sources said some 200 Muslim Brotherhood supporters were rounded up over the weekend in areas taking part in the second phase of the polls.—AFP