Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood is readying for an electoral showdown with Hosni Mubarak's ruling party, after shocking the country with a record seat tally in the first phase of parliamentary polls.

The second of three rounds is due to begin at 8am on Sunday in nine governorates, including the Mediterranean city of Alexandria.

While the ruling National Democratic Party's dominance was not in doubt after securing 112 out of 164 seats up for grabs in the first phase, the officially banned brotherhood won a surprise 34 constituencies, twice its tally in 2000.

The first phase, centered on Cairo, ended on Wednesday, amid accusations of widespread irregularities from monitoring organisations and opposition parties.

It also signaled the demise of the secular opposition, with presidential runner-up and Ghad party leader Ayman Nur crashing to defeat in his own stronghold and an alliance of other parties failing to make any impact.

The second phase will see close to 1800 candidates battle it out over 144 seats.

Any runoffs will take place on 26 November before the final phase starts on 1 December.

The Muslim Brotherhood, founded by Hassan al-Banna in 1929, already commands unprecedented political clout after the first phase results.

Legal parties need 5% of parliament - or 25 seats - to field a candidate in presidential elections.

But independents require the approval of at least 65 members, according to a recent constitutional amendment which the Muslim Brotherhood says was designed to prevent it from running.

Mustafa Kamel al-Sayyed, a political science professor at the American University in Cairo, believes that the government "will never accept a massive parliamentary representation for the Brothers".

PHOTO CAPTION

Party's candidate Mustafa Sallab sing outside a polling station the Cairo suburb of Nasr City, on November 15. (AFP)