MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

While the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists in the region celebrating a win, the opposition is saying not so fast. It’ll be interesting to see who is declared the official winner on Thursday …

Al-Arabiya – “Hamas leaders and supporters in Gaza Strip celebrated Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood presidential victory, according to preliminary results announced on Monday.

The Islamist bloc’s candidate Mohammed Mursi claimed he had won the election over former prime minister Ahmed Shafiq in the early hours of Monday, in line with primary results that were announced later that day.

Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zohri said that the result, which will be officially announced by the electoral body on Thursday, is a victory for the Egyptian people, its martyrs and the uprising which ousted former president Hosni Mubarak last year.

But perhaps more significantly for Hamas, an Islamist group born from the Muslim Brotherhood which controls the Gaza Strip, Zohri said that Mursi’s win will help break the siege on Gaza and support the Palestinian cause, especially on the issue of the disputed Jerusalem, Egypt Independent reported.

Mursi amassed 13.2 million votes, according to Al Arabiya TV, citing the primary vote counts, which resulted in a 51.8 percent win – against 12.3 million for Shafiq.

Initial results contain a margin of error of about two percentage points, meaning the result may be premature.

In related news, Ismail Haniyeh, prime minister of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, also praised the Islamists’ preliminary win.

‘We, the Palestinian people, follow the political scene in Egypt. We pin great hopes upon the Egyptian leadership, revolution, army, people and presidency to bolster the resistance of the Palestinian people, which has looked to Egypt throughout history,’ Haniyeh said.

‘We hope that Egypt enjoys stability, security and safety and we are still waiting for the official results of the presidential election.’

Mursi’s victory is widely welcomed by many in Gaza, who see it as the first step in the ending of the six-year siege of Gaza, and a great stride for the Palestinian struggle.” Read more.

Campaign: Muslim Brotherhood Opponent Claims Vote Win – “A campaign spokesman for Hosni Mubarak’s ex-prime minister said Tuesday that Ahmed Shafiq has won Egypt’s presidential election, countering the Muslim Brotherhood’s claims that its candidate was the winner and setting the stage for a divisive fight for the leadership. The rival claims carry the potential for a new chapter of unrest at a time when opposition already is growing against a ‘constitutional declaration’ announced by the military on Sunday which robbed the next president of many powers and gave the generals who succeeded Mubarak last year legislative powers as well as control over the process of drafting a constitution. Shafiq’s campaign spokesman, Ahmed Sarhan, told a televised news conference that Shafiq won 51.5 percent of the vote and that the claim of victory by Shafiq’s rival Mohammed Morsi was ‘false.'” Read more.