CAIRO, December 15 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - An Islamic lawmaker lost his seat in the Egyptian parliament Sunday, December 15, after election results in his northern constituency were cancelled over irregularities, a charge the MP considered a falsification to voters’ will.

The country's constitutional and legislative watchdog commission agreed with an appeal court ruling that Gamal Hechmat, who represented the Damanhour constituency in the northern governorate of Beheira, give up his seat over errors in vote counting and that a new election be held, a parliamentary source told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Hechmat is a member of the banned but largely tolerated Muslim Brotherhood, who ran as an independent.

He was elected during polls organized in October and November 2000, beating candidates from the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) and liberal opposition Wafd party.

He won a second round of balloting which pitted him against the NDP candidate.

However, the Wafd candidate lodged a complaint with the appeals court, claiming there had been a mistake in counting the ballots which would have put him, and not the NDP candidate, in the run-off.

A by-election is now to be held between Hechmat and the Wafd candidate, though the interior ministry has yet to set a date.

“I can’t find an explanation to that decision except that it is an escalation of the government’s attitude toward the Muslim Brotherhood and its attempts to politically undermine the group,” Hechmat told IslamOnline.

The parliament applies double standards, he said, adding that 9 other similar cases were presented to the parliament, but they were all refused except this one.

“This decision is a falsification of voters’ will in my district and will cause a serious damage to the Egyptian parliament’s reputation,” Hechmat said.

The Muslim Brotherhood is considered the main opposition force in Egyptian politics, backing 16 deputies apart from Hechmat in the 454-member parliament even though they were elected in November 2000 as independents.