Muslim Brotherhood claims its candidate has defeated Ahmed Shafik to become Egypt's President

[$teve]

Muslim Brotherhood claims victory in Egyptian presidential vote

• The Muslim Brotherhood says its candidate won with 52.5% of the overall vote
• A count by state media shows Morsi ahead, but with millions still to be counted
• Shafik's campaign accuses the Muslim Brotherhood of systemic election fraud
• Military leaders say they will retain legislative power until a new parliament is picked

The Muslim Brotherhood declared that its candidate won Egypt's historic presidential election this weekend, making the claim hours after openly challenging the nation's military rulers over its dissolution of parliament.

With several million votes still to be counted, the state-run Al-Ahram news website around 4:15 a.m. Monday (10:15 p.m. Sunday ET ) showed the Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi leading with about 5,648,000 votes compared with about 4,705,000 for opponent Ahmed Shafik, who served as Egypt's last prime minister in the waning days of Hosni Mubarak's regime.

Yet the Islamist group, citing what it said were all-but-complete official numbers released to its representatives at polling stations nationwide, asserted that Morsi had won by capturing 52.5% of the overall vote.

The official vote count was scheduled to be finished at some point Monday, with finals results to be announced Thursday.

Whoever they declare the winner will become the North African nation's first president since Mubarak, who was ousted in a wave of popular unrest last year after three decades in power.

The next president will wade into a country with a political system mired in controversy, confusion and confrontation, much of it due to events over the past week.

Yet Shafik's campaign filed "several complaints" with Sultan's commission, alleging the Muslim Brotherhood committed "systemic violations."

Specifically, they accused the Islamist group's supporters of bribing voters with "large sums of money and food" to back Morsi, as well as using "intimidation, threats and violence against supporters of candidate Ahmed Shafik." The former prime minister's camp also said it "filed more than 100 official complaints accusing the Brotherhood of ballot rigging and stuffing."

"The Muslim Brotherhood's systematic election violations prove how the (group) does not believe in freedom of choice and democracy unless this democracy brings them to power," Shafik's campaign said in a statement. "The organized and persistent election fraud by the Muslim Brotherhood proves they ... only talk the talk and never walk the walk of liberal democracy."

In a statement on its website, the Brotherhood flatly denied what it called "false reports being circulated" and urged election officials to promptly investigate what it called "games and plots." It also accused "the rival candidate's supporters (of) paying cash bribes to some voters," among other allegations.

Outside the city, in Giza, Mohammed Gamea cast his ballot for Morsi even as he questioned whether the election was fairly handled.

"I don't believe the Egyptian presidential elections are fair to begin with," he said Sunday morning. "The military council, assisted by the elections committee, tried everything to stall and influence the process, from disqualifying previous candidates before the first round -- not to mention the negative campaigns against Morsi -- while keeping quiet about Shafik."

"But despite all (this), I don't believe that there has been any electoral fraud. The ballots will determine what is next for Egypt."

The real obstacle to democracy in Egypt

Some disgruntled voters launched a campaign to invalidate ballots, said Mohamed Ghoneim, the founder of a group that marked "X" on the names of both Morsi and Shafik, thereby nullifying their vote.

Among the boycotters was Mohamed Khamees, who said he lost sight in his left eye from a police beating in Tahrir Square during the early 2011 protests.

"If I give this country for the Brotherhood hands, there is not going to be any more Egypt, it will be destroyed," he told CNN. "And if I give it to someone from the old system, it looks like we did nothing."

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/06/17/wo...html?hpt=hp_t2

[GR_78]

Unless the military comes out and simply declares dictatorship (ala Attaturk), they are simply postponing the inevitable as far as MB control of Egypt.

I highly doubt that Shafik's complaints will go anywhere and I would suspect that Morsi's lead will probably grow as they count the more rural vote.

[TaliaKirana]

Whatever happens in Egypt next... isn't going to be pretty.

[Nate928]

Is Egypt one of the nations prophecied to be defeated by israel? And in which war?

[GR_78]

Is Egypt one of the nations prophecied to be defeated by israel? And in which war?

Egypt is speculated to be one of the confederates in the Psalm 83 War. However, their actual destruction may come via Antichrist.

The stern-faced king (Isaiah 19:4) is thought to be an allusion to Antichrist, especially when done in conjunction with the North/South wars of Daniel 11.

Whomever does it, Egypt will be laid waste. Isaiah 19 speaks of great fear and destruction and Ezekiel 29 speaks of the whole country being so wasted that it will be abandoned.

The primary theory I've seen advocated is that someone will destroy the Aswan High Dam (tower of Syene - Eze 29:10) with a nuclear weapon. This would irradiate Lake Nasser and flood the entire Nile basin with radioactive waste, rendering 90% of the country uninhabitable.