Election commission head Abdel Moez Ibrahim said: “Turnout is 62 percent. It’s the highest turnout in the history of Egypt.” he added that 8.5 million people had cast their ballots.

Ibrahim gave a number of results for the individual contests, the vast majority of which will go into a runoff next week because no candidate gained an outright majority.

As he began to announce the party results, expected to give the broader voting trend, Ibrahim brought the press conference to an abrupt end. “I have no more energy, I’ve run out of gas,” he told a press conference, before instructing reporters to look through the voluminous results themselves. Conservatives are expected to sweep the election.

The turnout was far higher than the 40 percent seen for a referendum on a constitutional amendment held in March. The figure for voting on Monday and Tuesday in a third of the country’s provinces was lower than an estimate from Egypt’s ruling military leadership of 70 percent given earlier this week.