Egypt Delays Presidential Results, Islamists Assure: No Algerian-Type War
Egypt delayed the release of official results in a polarizing presidential election claimed by both candidates, injecting fresh uncertainty into an already troubled political transition process.
The decision to postpone the release, slated forThursday, was because more time was needed to review voting fraud allegations submitted by Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Mursi and Ahmed Shafik, Hosni Mubarak's last premier, the election commission said on its website. Commission Secretary-General Hatem Bagato was cited as saying by the state-run Al-Ahram Gate website that "results may be announced on June 23 or 24."
The delay complicates the race between the two most divisive candidates who emerged from a field of 13 hopefuls in the election's first round last month, and it threatens to stoke the tensions marring Egypt's transition.
Egyptians have been awaiting official results of the vote that would give the country its first Islamist civilian president or hand power to a former aide of the ousted President Hosni Mubarak. Both candidates have claimed victory.
The commission said it received more than 400 complaints from the two candidates, the state-run Middle East News Agency reported. Alleged The ruling military council has moved to boost its powers at the expense of the new president, fueling protests against the generals.
For his part, Saad al-Katatni, speaker of the short-lived democratic parliament dissolved by the ruling military council last week, warned that "Egypt's generals have set political rules that could keep the army in power for years."
The senior Islamist opponent stated that "the Muslim Brotherhood will not fight back in the way that plunged Algeria into bloody civil war."
"What happened in Algeria cannot be repeated in Egypt," said Katatni, rejecting comparisons with the conflict that erupted 20 years ago when a military-backed government blocked another Islamist group's ascent to power through the ballot box.
In his first interview since the Islamist-dominated legislature was dissolved after a court ruled procedures in its election were unconstitutional, Katatni mentioned "The Egyptian people are different and not armed."
"Opponents of army rule in Egypt had no weapons and only legal and popular means at their disposal," he added and pointed out that "We are fighting a legal struggle via the establishment and a popular struggle in the streets,."
"This is the ceiling. I see the continuation of the struggle in this way," the microbiologist said.
He demanded the army recognize democracy but also offered conciliatory words: "Everyone must submit to popular will," said Katatni, who was elected by fellow lawmakers in January to preside over Egypt's first freely elected parliament in decades.
"The recent developments indicate the desire of the military council to continue in power and not to hand it over. In an indirect way, they will not hand over on June 30, and are continuing, and it's open-ended this time," Katatni said
On the Presidential results, Katatni emphasized "there was absolutely no doubt, that the Brotherhood's Mursi had won the elections."
He dismissed Shafiq's claims of victory, arguing that it was mathematically impossible that he could have won on the basis of official logs of the vote count, copies of which his office presented to Reuters in a hefty, bound volume.
Source: News agencies, Edited by moqawama.org
