Amid high tension, a delay of the results of Egypt’s presidential election over fraud allegations has frayed nerves of the powerful Muslim Brotherhood and most Egyptians.
“There is absolutely no justification for the result of the vote to be delayed,” Muslim Brotherhood leader Essam el-Erian told the Doha-based Al-Jazeera television.
Results of the weekend’s runoff vote between Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate Mohamed Mursi and former premier Ahmed Shafiq was due to be announced on Thursday, July 21.
But the election commission delayed the vote results over complaints of fraud.
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The Muslim Brotherhood has declared its candidate Mursi a winner within hours of polls closing last Sunday.
The Brotherhood said Mursi beat Shafiq by 52 percent to 48 percent, a figure the group has stuck to, citing its detailed collation of local results.
But the result was challenged by Shafiq, who complained of fraud during the voting process.
Erian, the Brotherhood leader, described complaints from the Shafiq camp as either invalid or too few to affect the result.