Egypt Election: Morsi Leads, But Second Round Expected

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood said their candidate is leading the first round of presidential elections. Just hours after the closing of the polls on Thursday night, the Muslim Brotherhood said their candidate Mohammed Morsi was leading the first round of presidential elections in Egypt.

Although final result will not be published until Sunday, the Brotherhood expressed their “confidence”, based on initial results from polling stations. Nevertheless, it is likely that none of the 12 candidates obtained an absolute majority of votes from that first round.

Among the main rivals of Morsi, are the dissident of the Brotherhood Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, the independent candidate Hamdin Sabahi and and former General Ahmed Shafik, who is the favorite of the army and the Coptic minority.

“We are confident that the next Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi will,” said Essam el-Erian, a top party official Freedom and Justice of the Muslim Brotherhood who won the majority of parliamentary seats in parliamentary elections.

Earlier, the Election Commission had estimated the turnout at 50% . The election lasted two days, and the polls closed at 9:00 p.m. local time on Thursday evening, an hour later than planned, to accommodate as many voters as possible.

This election was described as “historic” by Hillary Clinton , the U.S. Secretary of State. “We expect to work with the democratically elected government of Egypt”, she added.