Egypt’s Supreme Presidential Election Commission has confirmed that former prime minister Ahmed Shafiq and Muslim Brotherhood representative Mohammed Mursi will compete in a presidential runoff vote on June 16-17, commission head Farouk Sultan said on Monday.
“None of the candidates gained 50 percent. According to the law, there will be a second round that will involve Mohammed Mursi and Ahmed Shafiq,” Sultan told journalists.
He called the May 23-24 first round of the presidential election “democratic and transparent.”
Sultan said Mursi gained about 5.8 million votes, and Shafiq 5.5 million.
Shafiq, 70, also former Air Force commander, pledged to ensure security in the country soon in case of his election. But last year’s popular uprising’s supporters may fail to vote for him due to his prime ministerial post in the last days of the Hosni Mubarak government.
Mursi, 60, an engineer by profession, who was a reserve candidate for the Muslim Brotherhood, came to the foreground after Muslim Brotherhood key candidate Khairat al-Shater was disqualified.
The polls, which are expected to mark the nation's transition from the present military to civilian rule, are the first alternative elections since 2005 when Mubarak ensured a landslide victory over other candidates.
Egypt has been run by the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) since Mubarak’s ouster in 2011. The military immediately abolished the constitution and dissolved the parliament, promising to pass the rule to civilian authorities after democratic elections.
During the transitional period, the military set up general elections, which were swept by Muslims. At the same time, they failed to agree the basics of the future constitution with political forces, leaving the country without fundamental law.
