Egypt awaits election result, vote expected to enter run-off between Mursi, Shafiq

Egypt’s electoral commission will announce on Monday the results of last week’s presidential election, which appear headed into a run-off between Islamist Mohammed Mursi and former premier Ahmed Shafiq.

Four candidates have complained about the voting, including Hamdeen Sabahy, the leftist candidate shown in third place.
If no candidate wins more than 50 percent of the vote, a run-off is held between the top two.

“Today we announce the results of the first round of the presidential election,” Hatem Bagato, the secretary-general of the electoral committee, told Reuters.

The commission will hold a press conference at 1300 GMT to “announce the final results for the presidential election,” the government’s press center said in an email, according to AFP news agency,

Unofficial results reported by state media and the candidates show the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mursi in first place, with a small advantage over Shafiq, Hosni Mubarak’s last prime minister before his overthrow last year.

The run-off is scheduled for June 16-17, but the third placed candidate, pan-Arabist leftist Hamdeen Sabbahi, has called for a postponement because of alleged irregularities in the vote.

Other candidates also alleged irregularities in the historic poll, which is part of the last phase in the military-led transitional period since Mubarak’s ouster on February 11 last year.

Election monitoring group the Carter Centre said it observed violations, but they did not appear to have been conducted in a pattern to favor any of the candidates.

Egypt’s election committee will announce on Monday first round results of the presidential poll, an official said, after unofficial counts showed it would go to a run-off between the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate and the last prime minister of Hosni Mubarak.

Asked if there would be a run-off, he said: “That would be part of the result announcement we will make today.”

The Brotherhood’s Mohamed Mursi is expected to compete with Ahmed Shafiq, Mubarak’s last prime minister who led the air force before joining the cabinet.

Egypt Salafi party backs Brotherhood’s Mursi

Egypt’s ultra-conservative Salafi Al-Nur Party has announced it will back the Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Mursi in a presidential election runoff against ex-premier Ahmed Shafiq.

“The High Committee of the Al-Nur Party supports Dr. Mohammed Mursi for president of the republic in the runoff,” the party said on its official Twitter account.

The official results of Egypt’s first presidential election since the 2011 uprising that overthrew Hosni Mubarak have yet to be made public. Egypt’s electoral commission was expected to announce them later on Monday.

The Al-Nur Party had backed moderate Islamist and ex-Brotherhood member Abdel Moneim Abul Fotouh in the presidential race after their candidate Hazem Abu Ismail was disqualified from standing.