Both presidential rivals claim victory in Egypt
Source: Agencies |
June 21, 2012, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
Egyptian authorities may delay the announcement of the winner in the presidential runoff, which had been expected today, because of a large number of complaints filed by the two candidates, a senior election commission official said.
If the electoral commission does delay the official declaration of a winner, it will only heighten tensions gripping the country after both candidates claimed victory.
The camp of former leader Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister Ahmed Shafiq says he won with 51.5 percent of the vote while the campaign of Islamist Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood says he got 52 percent.
Adding to the potentially explosive dispute over the election is the latest health scare concerning 84-year-old Mubarak, who was ousted in Egypt's uprising and is now serving a life sentence in prison.
Overnight, state media reported that he suffered a stroke and was on life support. He was transferred to a military hospital from the Cairo prison hospital where he has been kept since his June 2 conviction and sentencing for failing to stop the killing of protesters during the uprising.
Yesterday, security officials said he was in a coma but off life support and his heart and other vital organs were functioning.
One of Mubarak's defense lawyers, Mohamed Abdel Razek, blamed a lack of proper treatment at the prison for his condition.
"The president still goes in and out of comas and had a stroke and all of this requires a hospital with special equipment that would be able to treat his condition," he said.
The rival election claims have injected a new irritant into Egypt's worsening political crisis with less than two weeks before the ruling military council that took over from Mubarak 16 months ago was due to hand over power to an elected president. The ruling generals have issued amendments and additions to a constitutional declaration that tightened their grip on power. The decree stripped the next president of significant powers and gave the military control over the national budget and the drafting of a new and permanent constitution.
The declaration came just days after judges who had been appointed by Mubarak ruled to dissolve the Islamist-dominated parliament on the grounds the law governing its election some six months ago breached the principle of equality.
Tens of thousands of Islamists from the Brotherhood and its allies staged a protest in central Cairo on Tuesday night to denounce the declaration and the dissolution of parliament.
But some saw the rally more as a celebration of Morsi's victory and a show of force in the face of the rival victory claim made by Shafiq, a longtime friend and admirer of Mubarak.
Security officials said several employees of the state press, where election ballots were printed, were being questioned over allegations that thousands of the ballots were marked in favor of Morsi before being sent to polling centers run by officials sympathetic to the Brotherhood. Already, three heads of centers in different parts of the country have been held for questioning over alleged vote rigging.
If the electoral commission does delay the official declaration of a winner, it will only heighten tensions gripping the country after both candidates claimed victory.
The camp of former leader Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister Ahmed Shafiq says he won with 51.5 percent of the vote while the campaign of Islamist Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood says he got 52 percent.
Adding to the potentially explosive dispute over the election is the latest health scare concerning 84-year-old Mubarak, who was ousted in Egypt's uprising and is now serving a life sentence in prison.
Overnight, state media reported that he suffered a stroke and was on life support. He was transferred to a military hospital from the Cairo prison hospital where he has been kept since his June 2 conviction and sentencing for failing to stop the killing of protesters during the uprising.
Yesterday, security officials said he was in a coma but off life support and his heart and other vital organs were functioning.
One of Mubarak's defense lawyers, Mohamed Abdel Razek, blamed a lack of proper treatment at the prison for his condition.
"The president still goes in and out of comas and had a stroke and all of this requires a hospital with special equipment that would be able to treat his condition," he said.
The rival election claims have injected a new irritant into Egypt's worsening political crisis with less than two weeks before the ruling military council that took over from Mubarak 16 months ago was due to hand over power to an elected president. The ruling generals have issued amendments and additions to a constitutional declaration that tightened their grip on power. The decree stripped the next president of significant powers and gave the military control over the national budget and the drafting of a new and permanent constitution.
The declaration came just days after judges who had been appointed by Mubarak ruled to dissolve the Islamist-dominated parliament on the grounds the law governing its election some six months ago breached the principle of equality.
Tens of thousands of Islamists from the Brotherhood and its allies staged a protest in central Cairo on Tuesday night to denounce the declaration and the dissolution of parliament.
But some saw the rally more as a celebration of Morsi's victory and a show of force in the face of the rival victory claim made by Shafiq, a longtime friend and admirer of Mubarak.
Security officials said several employees of the state press, where election ballots were printed, were being questioned over allegations that thousands of the ballots were marked in favor of Morsi before being sent to polling centers run by officials sympathetic to the Brotherhood. Already, three heads of centers in different parts of the country have been held for questioning over alleged vote rigging.
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