The Muslim Brotherhood says it has won 13 parliamentary seats in the second stage of Egyptian elections despite a crackdown by authorities, reinforcing its position as the ruling party's main challenger.

The Muslim Brotherhood, banned since 1954, has more than doubled its strength in parliament in the first stage of voting, making the most of leeway from the government to show the weight of political Islam as Egypt's strongest opposition force.

Two of its candidates in Minya al-Basal and a third, Sayyid Askar, in Tanta have been declared winners, Aljazeera's correspondent said, while governing National Democratic Party (NDP) candidates have won four to six seats in parliament.

Police arrested about 470 activists affiliated to the Brotherhood during and before voting on Sunday for the legislative elections. Police and armed gangs blocked polling stations in some Muslim Brotherhood strongholds, witnesses told agency reporters.

Hussain Abd al-Ghani, Aljazeera's Egypt bureau chief, reporting from Cairo, said the Muslim Brotherhood's success in the second round matches those made by it in the first-round runoff.

The Brotherhood won four seats during the first round, 30 in the first-round runoff, and the group's sources told Aljazeera that 14 candidates have won in the second round in nine governorates.

At least 35 of the group's candidates will re-run in the second-round runoff, Abd al-Ghani said.

The group's victories were primarily in Alexandria, al-Gharbiya, al-Ismailiya and al-Qalyubiya governorates, the correspondent said.

Samir Omar, an Aljazeera correspondent reporting from Alexandria, said the violence had an effect on polling.

Egyptians are disappointed by the unexpected outbreak of violence, he said.

Activists overseeing the elections told Aljazeera that the second round was bloodier and more violent than the first-round runoff.

Brotherhood parliamentarians from Alexandria, Hussain Muhammad and Hamdi Hasan, have retained their seats, Omar said.

The Brotherhood is contesting one-third of the chamber's seats and does not pose a threat to the NDP's control of parliament.

Official results have yet to be released, and it was not clear how many seats the NDP had won.

The ruling party won 68 of 164 seats in the first round, while the Brotherhood won 21%. Secular opposition parties won only a handful of places.

The third and final stage of voting, for 136 seats, starts on 1 December.

PHOTO CAPTION

Egyptian plain-clothes policemen arrest a Muslim Brotherhood supporter near a polling station, in Damanhur, 140 kilometers (85 miles) north of Cairo, Egypt, during the second round of the Egyptian parliamentary elections Sunday, Nov. 20, 2005. (AP)