Egypt Election Results Now Expected Sunday
The head of Egypt’s election commission says official results from the disputed presidential runoff vote will be released Sunday.
Farouk Sultan, the head of the Supreme Presidential Election Commission, confirmed the timing on Saturday.
Results of runoff vote between the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate Mohammed Morsi and a Mubarak-era politician Ahmed Shafiq were postponed last week as both campaigns claimed victory.
Demonstrators continued their sit-in into the fifth successive day on Saturday in protest against the disbanding of the Islamist-dominated parliament last week and calling for military leaders to rescind a constitutional declaration granting the generals sweeping powers and stripping the next president of much of his authority.
At stake is whether or not Egypt will emerge from the instability of the 16-month transition that followed Hosni Mubarak’s 2011 overthrow, or whether the power struggles will continue or even escalate to a more dangerous level.
Tensions soared Wednesday when the country’s military-appointed election commission indefinitely delayed announcing the results of the weekend elections.
The Brotherhood announced soon after polls closed Sunday that it had beaten Shafiq, an ex-air force commander who many view as the military’s preferred candidate, by 52 per cent to 48 per cent.
Shafiq has also claimed victory by a narrow margin.
The postponement of an official announcement set off a wave of charges of manipulation aimed at all sides, including the ruling military.