Egypt's ruling military council has given some presidential powers to interim Prime Minister Kamal el-Ganzouri.

The official news agency MENA reported Wednesday the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces will maintain control of the army and judiciary as it hands over more power to Mr. Ganzouri.

Egypt's military rulers said Tuesday they would amend the constitution to give the prime minister more power than his predecessor Essam Sharaf, who quit amid unrest in the country last month. Critics accused the military ruling council of not giving the last Cabinet enough influence.

Mr. Ganzouri unveiled his new Cabinet Wednesday, naming a former regional security head as interior minister. Mohammed Ibrahim will replace Mansour al-Eissawy. Many opposition youth activists have been calling for a civilian replacement of Eissawy, who also has a police background.

Many Egyptians resent the interior ministry for ordering police to violently crack down on opposition protesters, who forced autocratic president Hosni Mubarak to step down in February and who demonstrated last month against the military council that replaced him.

Mr. Ganzouri said the finance ministry will be headed by Mumtaz al-Saeed, a ministry veteran who faces the challenge of stabilizing an economy battered by unrest since Mr. Mubarak's resignation in February. Some incumbent ministers will remain in the Cabinet that is to govern until the end of phased parliamentary elections in March.

Mr. Mubarak, two of his sons and his former interior minister are all standing trial on charges including killing protesters and abuse of power. The news agency MENA reported Wednesday that an Egyptian court has rejected an appeal to remove the main judge in the Mubarak trial. Lawyers representing the families of slain protesters have called for the judge to be replaced.

Meanwhile, Egyptians are awaiting official results from the runoff parliamentary elections held earlier this week. The election commission says it will announce the results later Wednesday.

The Muslim Brotherhood says its political party has won almost two-thirds of the parliamentary seats reserved for individual candidates in the opening rounds of the lower house elections. If confirmed, the Brotherhood's individual seat victories put the movement on track to become the leading power in the 498-member assembly.

In a statement Wednesday, the Islamist group's Freedom and Justice party says it won 36 of the 56 individual seats that were contested in nine provinces, including the two largest cities of Cairo and Alexandria. It says Freedom and Justice candidates won 34 seats in runoff elections on Monday and Tuesday after winning outright victories in two other seats in last week's first round of voting.

The Brotherhood's party already had won the largest share of seats reserved for parties in last week's vote, securing 37 percent of ballots in the nine provinces, compared to 24 percent for its nearest rival, the ultra-conservative Salafist Nour party. Egypt's liberal coalition was a distant third.

In the coming weeks, Egyptians in the remaining 18 provinces will join the voting for the lower house of parliament. Elections for parliament's less-powerful upper house will begin in late January and finish in March.