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Journalism of Courage
Mohammed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood today won Egypt’s hotly-contested presidential run-off beating former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq,as the Arab Spring that ousted strongman Hosni Mubarak finally bore fruit,giving the country its first non-military president.
Mursi,60,was named the fifth president of Egypt after narrowly beating off competition from rival Shafiq,in the presidential polls held on June 16-17.
Announcing the results,the Supreme Presidential Electoral Commission (SPEC) head Farouq Sultan said Mursi,won 51.73 per cent of the vote,beating his rival Shafiq.
Morsi won 13,230,131 votes against Shafiq who clinched 12,347,380.
Sultan said the election commission had upheld some of the 466 complaints by the candidates,but that the election result still stood.
Both candidates had already declared victory in the hours before announcement leading to a tense stand-off between the two camps.
The announcement prompted scenes of jubilation in Cairo’s iconic Tahrir Square,where thousand’s of Mursi’s supporters had gathered since yesterday.
“God is greatest” and “down with military rule”,they chanted as some set off fire crackers minutes after the election commission formally declared the results.
Authorities in Egypt had been on “high alert” in advance of the announcement,concerned about what could happen if Shafiq won.
Officials had said they were ready to carry out long-standing policy of using deadly force against people who attack government buildings.
Mursi’s win in Egypt’s first-ever genuine multi-candidate presidential elections puts an end to a 60-year military monopoly of the position.
His predecessors Mohamed Naguib,Gamal Abdel-Nasser,Anwar El-Sadat and Hosni Mubarak,who ruled the country since the 1952 Free Officers’ Coup,all came from the army’s ranks.
