Early Results in Egypt’s Presidential Election Points to Run-Off
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John Moore/Getty Images(CAIRO) — Early results in Egypt’s first contested presidential election show remarkable leads for two candidates from opposite ends of the spectrum that will likely end up in a run-off between both men.
Just over half of the votes have been counted, and they indicate that Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood is in the lead, with Ahmed Shafiq, a former prime minister under ousted President Hosni Mubarak’s rule, in second place.
The two options leave moderate Egyptians, many who participated in and led the revolution, stranded, facing the difficult choice of a hardline Islamist and a Mubarak regime insider.
If no candidate manages to get more than 50 percent of the votes and the preliminary results hold — the official results won’t be announced until Tuesday — Morsi and Shafiq will face each other in a run-off vote scheduled for June 16 and 17. Egypt’s next president will be formally named four days later.
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