The Guardian's liveblog of the election results explains that officials say the delay is because ballots are still being counted.

The elections are the first of three stages to select the lower house of the Egyptian Parliament, which will be tasked with writing a new constitution for the country. Upper house elections go from January to March, and a Presidential election should be held by June, at which point the military rulers of the country say they'll hand over power to the newly elected government, according to CNN. 

The news channel notes that 42 protesters have been killed and over 3,000 injured in the past couple weeks. The protesters are calling for the immediate end of military rule in the country. While Egypt's first round of elections were peaceful, there were reported cases of illegal campaigning and vote buying. 

Thursday, Dec. 1 at 10:46 AM: While the actual makeup of Egypt’s Parliament is still up in the air until the voting process concludes in January, early results indicate that Egyptian elections will mirror the results of Tunisian and Moroccan elections, with strong showings for Islamist parties. 

As Reuters reports, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), the political party of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, is expecting to take about 40 percent of Parliament seats contested in the first phase of voting this week. The New York Times notes that the strong showing from the ultra conservative Islamist wing, Salafis, at an expected 25 percent, puts Islamist parties on track for a majority in Parliament. Official results for the first round are scheduled to be announced later Thursday.