For a second time, Egypt has delayed its announcement of results from this week's parliamentary elections.

An election official said Thursday that results due to be announced later in the day would not be made public until Friday.

He said the vote-counting from the first round of polling for the parliament's lower house had not been completed.

The results from Monday and Tuesday's voting in Cairo, Alexandria and seven other provinces were originally set to be released on Wednesday.

The elections are Egypt's first since President Hosni Mubarak's resignation in February during a popular uprising.

The Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party and the more conservative al-Nour Salafi Islamist groups are claiming strong showings in the vote.

Voters in other provinces will cast ballots in two stages that will take place in the coming weeks. Egyptians then vote for the upper house. The process will not be over until March.

Earlier this week, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon congratulated Egyptians for what he called their “enthusiastic participation at the ballot box.”