MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

Mohammed Morsi has been declared the official winner of Egypt’s presidential election. It was a lose-lose situation overall, however, for the future of Egypt, particularly the Christian community. If Ahmed Shafiq would have been declared the winner, there would have been trouble in the streets today. Although presidential powers have been neutered recently by the ruling military council, an Islamist win is bad news for the future of Egypt and its people. Trouble may not come today, but tomorrow is another story …

By Richard Spencer, The Telegraph – “Egypt faces an era of unprecedented ‘co-habitation government’ after Mohammed Morsi, the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, was declared the winner of the presidential election.

The Presidential Election Commission announced that Mohammed Morsi, head of the Brotherhood’s political front, the Freedom and Justice Party, won a narrow but clear victory. There is no appeal.

The declaration by the commission’s chairman, Farouq Sultan, a judge close to ex-President Mr Mubarak, relieves immediate concern at the possibility of widespread unrest by Islamists and secular revolutionaries, who had feared the win would be given to Mr Morsi’s opponent, Ahmed Shafiq,a retired general and Mr Mubarak’s last prime minister.

The Brotherhood’s own count of published polling station figures had given Mr Morsi a 52-48 per cent win, a judgement agreed by most independent newspapers and observers. Final election figures from the commission reflected a similar score. Dr Shafiq won more than 12 million votes and Dr Morsi more than 13 million. Turnout was 51 per cent.

In advance of the declaration, troops and police flooded the streets of the capital to protect public buildings in case of disorder. The army had threatened a ‘firm response’ to any sign of trouble.

The result is a remarkable achievement for the Islamists, who emerged from decades of persecution to seize a seemingly unassailable position in Egypt’s politics after the overthrow of Mr Mubarak. A month ago, they were in control of the first freely elected parliament, were set to dominate the comittee drawing up a new constitution, and their candidate had led the first round of voting in the presidential elections.

Following recent decrees, the military interim rulers, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), dissolved parliament following a separate ruling by Mr Sultan in his other role as head of the constitutional court, reserved its powers to itself, and gave itself a veto over any new constitution.” Read more.