Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood says wants to form govt

Partial results Wednesday showed the Muslim Brotherhood emerging as the biggest winner in Egypts landmark parliamentary elections, and leaders of the once-banned Islamic group demanded to form the next government, setting the stage for a possible confrontation with the ruling military.The generals who took power after the February fall of Hosni Mubarak have said they will name the government and the parliament would have no right to dissolve it. They have also sought to wrest from the new parliament the more long-reaching and crucial role of running the process for writing the new constitution.But the Brotherhoods confidence was riding high after the unexpectedly large turnout this week for two days of voting. Millions lined up at the polls for the first of multiple rounds of balloting in their countrys first free election in living memory.Even before polls closed on Tuesday, Mohammed Mursi, head of the Brotherhoods Freedom and Justice Party, told reporters outside a polling center in Cairo that the majority in parliament must put together the government, which he said should be a coalition of the main parties.Another top Brotherhood figure, Sobhi Saleh, said on Wednesday that Mursis comments were a message to the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces not to act unilaterally.You cant come and say, I choose the government and I sack the government. Its over, the people have emerged, he said. If you impose a government on me that I dont endorse, you are creating tension in the relationship.The high turnout, he said, shows that Egyptians want a fully empowered parliament and that you, yourself, are subject to the peoples authority, referring to the generals.Final results from the round, which covered nine of Egypts 27 provinces, will be issued Thursday night. The Brotherhood appeared convinced it surpassed already high expectations. Saleh, for example, boasted the group won 50 percent. But the true extent of its win was not yet known. In rural provinces in particular, the main party of the ultraconservative IslamistSalafis, who are more hard-line than the Brotherhood, appeared to do surprisingly well, cutting into the Brotherhood vote. In other places, the main liberal-secular grouping made a strong showing.