Egyptian police have rounded up almost 600 Muslim Brotherhood activists in the two days before the last stage of legislative elections in what the opposition Islamist group said was an attempt to disrupt its campaign. The Brotherhood, fielding independent candidates because the authorities refuse to let them form a party, has shaken up Egyptian politics by winning 76 of the 444 elected seats in parliament, two-thirds of the way through the process. The first day of voting for the final 136 seats is on Thursday. The Islamists are contesting 49 places. "The authorities have resorted to these detentions because most of the means they have used in previous stages have not worked," said deputy Brotherhood leader Khairat el-Shater. Shater, quoted on the Brotherhood website, said practices such as thuggery, preventing Brotherhood supporters from voting and the mass registration of voters resident in other constituencies - abuses corroborated by independent monitoring organisations - had not stopped Brotherhood victories.