Egypt elected a new parliament on Sunday in a vote marred by violence and fraud allegations, leading the US to fear for the country's future as a key strategic ally in the Middle East.
Protesters clashed with police and there were reports of gunfights between candidates' supporters in the south of the country.
But as polls closed it seemed likely that the government had achieved its aim of reducing the Muslim Brotherhood, the main Islamist opposition, to a rump as US-backed President Hosni Mubarak sought to strengthen his grip on power.
The United States and particularly President Barack Obama regardEgypt as a key partner in the Middle East. But even Washington was moved to urge restraint as more than 1,000 Muslim Brotherhood activists were arrested during the campaign.
The Brotherhood, a non-violent movement that seeks to transform Egypt into an Islamic state, stunned the country's ruling elite in 2005 when it emerged as the largest opposition party in parliament, winning a fifth of seats.
Scarred by the experience and determined to ensure smooth passage for Mr Mubarak's plans for next year's presidential elections, the authorities this time banned more than a dozen Brotherhood candidates.
Civil society groups said that observers witnessed ballot stuffing in at least one district, while police said they fired tear gas at protesters in several districts in the Nile Delta and the south. There were also reports of gunfights between supporters of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) and of two of its opponents.
Analysts predicted that the NDP, which has never won less than a two-thirds majority since its creation in 1978, would win at least 400 of the 508 seats. The Brotherhood, which is formally banned but runs candidates as independents, could win as few as 33.
Mr Mubarak, who is 82, has not yet declared his intention to stand in next year's presidential election, but if he does not, he is expected to anoint his son Gamal in his place.
President Barack Obama has pursued a more pragmatic approach to Egypt than his predecessor, President George W. Bush, who made calls for democratic reform.
That was highlighted by President Obama's choice of Cairo to launch his policy of closer engagement with ordinary Muslims in a speech in June last year.
But the State Department spokesman, Phillip Crowley, earlier this month urged the government to allow international observers.
Ahmed Fathi Sorrour, the parliamentary speaker, warned that US pressure could cause the realisation of the West's worst fears by allowing an Islamist regime to take power.
"If there is any US pressure on Egypt, it might possibly turn the situation from a separation of state and religion into a religious state," he said.
Analysts said such claims were overblown. "The idea of the Brotherhood sweeping to power is a straw man and people in the Obama administration see that," said Michele Dunne, a former US diplomat.
Mr Mubarak's real purpose may be to consolidate control of parliament in order to block challenges from influential secular opponents such as Mohamed ElBaradei, the former head of the UN's nuclear watchdog.
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