Egypt to announce its next president tomorrow

According to Egyptian state TV, the election authority will announce the name of Hosni Mubarak's successor in the afternoon tomorrow.

Secretary-General of the Electoral Commission, Hatem Bagato, said at 3 pm tomorrow (630 IST), the authority will announce the results, ending the suspense on whether Mohammed Mursi or Ahmed Shafiq will become the first democratically elected president of the country.

Both the Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mursi and Mubarak's last premier Shafiq have claimed victory, citing their unofficial counts.

The electoral commission was initially scheduled to announce the results on Thursday but delayed the announcement as it needed extra time to examine the appeals filed by both candidates.

The announcement of the results will mark the culmination of a process that started in January last year when a mass uprising swept Egypt and shook the three-decade-old iron rule of Mubarak.

However, there is much cynicism in the country, and growing apprehension that the military was trying to make a back door entry into governance.

Thousands of protesters have packed Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square over the last two days to protest against the military's tightening grasp on political power, after the Army took control of legislative powers following a court order dissolving the recently-elected parliament.

Al Ahram reported today that the Muslim Brotherhood appeared to be backing down from a showdown with the powerful military by negotiating a 'political deal' to pave the way for its candidate Mohammad Mursi to be declared as the country's president-elect by tomorrow. PTI

WAJ