Muslim Brotherhood member Mohamed Morsi was yesterday declared the first president of Egypt since a popular uprising ousted Hosni Mubarak, capping a tumultuous and divisive military-led transition.
Mr Morsi, who ran against Mubarak-era minister Ahmed Shafiq, won 51.73 per cent of the vote after a race that had polarised the nation.
“The winner of the election for Egyptian president on June 16-17 is Mohamed Morsi Eissa al-Ayat,” said head of the electoral commission Faruq Sultan.
Mr Morsi’s victory marks the first time Islamists have taken the presidency of the Arab world’s most populous nation, but recent moves by the ruling military to consolidate its power have rendered the post toothless.
Mr Morsi won with 13,230,131 votes against Mr Shafiq’s 12,347,380, Mr Sultan said. The election, in which more than 50 million voters were eligible to cast their ballot, saw a 51.8 per cent turnout.
Military ruler Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, who took power when Hosni Mubarak was forced to resign in February last year, congratulated Mr Morsi on his win, state TV announced.
Thousands of Morsi supporters who had packed into Cairo’s Tahrir Square erupted in celebration, waving flags and posters of the Islamist leader.
“God is greatest” and “down with military rule” they chanted as some set off firecrackers minutes after the electoral commission formally declared the result.
Across Cairo, cars sounded their horns and chants of “Morsi, Morsi” were heard.
Supporters of Mr Shafiq, who had gathered to hear the result with his campaign team in the suburbs of Cairo, were devastated.
Some women screamed and others cried as several men held their heads between their hands in despair.
“It’s a very sad day for Egypt. I don’t think Morsi is the winner, I’m very sad that Egypt will be represented by this man and this group,” Shafiq supporter Maged said.
The capital was tense before the announcement, with the city’s notoriously busy streets deserted and shops and schools closed.
Extra troops and police were deployed as military helicopters flew overhead.The road to Parliament was closed to traffic and security was tightened around vital establishments as Egyptians waited nervously for the result.
The election has polarised the nation, dividing those who feared a return to the old regime under Mr Shafiq from others who wanted to keep religion completely out of politics and who fear that the Brotherhood would stifle personal freedoms .
Mr Shafiq ran on a strong law-and-order platform, pledging to restore security and stability.
He is himself a retired general, but as a Mubarak-era minister he is reviled by the activists who spearheaded the 2011 revolt.
President-elect Morsi was the Islamists’ fallback representative after their deputy leader Khairat El-Shater was disqualified.
In campaigning he sought to allay the fears of secular groups and the sizeable Coptic Christian minority by promising a diverseand inclusive political system.
On Saturday, two massive Cairo protests duelled for supremacy. Thousands of Brotherhood supporters thronged Tahrir Square, with hundreds spending the night there.
“Morsi, Morsi, God is the Greatest,” they chanted.
Across the city in the Nasr City neighbourhood, thousands of Shafiq supporters held up pictures of him and of Tantawi, chanting: “The people and the army are one.”
“Down with the rule of the Supreme Guide,” they shouted, referring to the head of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Both Mr Morsi and Mr Shafiq had claimed victory in the election for a successor to Mr Mubarak, and tensions heightened after the electoral commission delayed announcing the official outcome.
The delay in announcing the result of the June 16-17 run-off, initially scheduled for Thursday, had raised suspicions that the outcome of the election was being negotiated rather than counted.