Cairo ( CNN ) -- Egypt opens the third round of voting for the lower house of Parliament on Tuesday after Islamist parties performed strongly in the previous rounds last month . The vote is the latest step in a tense and complex process meant to move Egypt toward a more representative form of government after the ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak in February . The ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has led Egypt 's government since Mubarak 's fall . It has said it will hand over power to a new government once one is in place . But the transition has not been quick or transparent enough for some Egyptians . A series of protests in Cairo last month resulted in violent and sometimes deadly clashes between demonstrators and the country 's armed forces . The unrest appeared to have largely stemmed from a stretch of assaults by police and defiant protests by demonstrators demanding that Egypt 's ruling military cede power to a civilian government . The authorities have also cracked down on rights groups . The police last month conducted raids on nongovernmental organizations across the country , including U.S. groups that promote democratic institutions and had delegations observing the parliamentary elections . Egyptian authorities agreed to halt the raids and return all equipment and documents seized after protests from Washington , which provides more than $ 1 billion per year in military aid to Egypt . And international election observers are continuing their operations . The former U.S. president Jimmy Carter will visit Egypt next week to participate in the witnessing of the elections , the Carter Center said in a statement Monday . He will join a delegation of 40 witnesses from 21 countries based in Egypt since mid-November to witness the three phases of voting , according to the center . The relatively moderate Muslim Brotherhood 's Freedom and Justice Party last month won more than 4 million votes in the runoff for the second round of the process . The conservative Al Noor Salafi Party won more than 3 million . The secular Egyptian bloc won 785,000 . The second round of voting covered the regions of Giza , Luxor , Aswan and Ismailia regions , which have historically favored conservative Muslim candidates . More than 11 million voters participated . Islamists claimed victory in the first round of elections in other parts of the country that took place earlier in December . Final results for the lower house are expected to be announced January 12 . Meanwhile , the ruling military council brought forward the scheduled elections for the upper house of Parliament by nearly three weeks , with voting now scheduled to start in late January , the state news agency MENA reported Sunday . Balloting will be held in two stages instead of three , first on January 29-30 and then on February 14-15 , MENA said , citing a decree from the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces . If necessary , runoffs would be held on February 7 and 22 , with a goal of having winners seated by February 28 .
Islamist parties did well in the two previous rounds of voting . The third round comes after weeks of sometimes deadly unrest in Cairo . Protesters want Egypt 's ruling military to cede power to a civilian government . The Egyptian authorities have also carried out raids on rights groups in the country .