"CIVIL WAR NEXT?" - Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood claims 52 percent victory in presidential vote, Shafiq’s camp is accusing the Brotherhood of “hijacking the election result.”

"CIVIL WAR NEXT?" - Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood claims 52 percent victory in presidential vote, Shafiq’s camp is accusing the Brotherhood of “hijacking the election result.”(AA).Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood claimed a historic victory for their candidate Mohammed Mursi on Monday in the country’s first presidential vote since a 2011 uprising that overthrew dictator Hosni Mubarak. “Doctor Mohammed Mursi is the first Egyptian president of the republic elected by the people,” the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) said in the tweet that first announced their projected win. Mursi’s campaign director Ahmed Abdelati confirmed the projected victory. At a press conference he said Mursi had garnered 52.5 percent of the vote to 47.5 percent for his rival, ex-prime minister Ahmed Shafiq, with the ballots from nearly all of the country’s 13,000 polling stations counted. “Its a moment that all the Egyptian people have waited for,” he said.But Shafiq’s camp was quick to contest the claim by the Brotherhood. “We reject it completely,” Shafiq campaign official Mahmoud Baraka told reporters of the Brotherhood’s proclaimed victory. “The campaign of Ahmed Shafiq is astonished by the conference of the FJP that represents a violation of the laws of the election commission,” Mahmoud Baraka, the media of Shafiq’s campaign, said, accusing the Brotherhood of “hijacking the election result.” “It is the only authority entitled to issue results, however our counting of the votes have so far showed that we are ahead with 52 percent of the vote but we refuse to break the law and issue any numbers now,” he said.
Meanwhile, there were scenes of jubilation at Mursi’s headquarters, where the candidate himself thanked Egyptians for their votes in brief remarks. Mursi said he would be a president for all Egyptians and said he would not “seek revenge or settle scores.”
“Thanks be to God who has guided Egypt’s people to the path of freedom and democracy, uniting the Egyptians to a better future,” Mursi said. He pledged to serve both those who voted for him and those who did not and also vowed to seek justice for those killed in the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak last year.More than 850 people died in the uprising, and dozens more have in violence since then. “To all the martyrs and to their families ... I pledge to return their rights through law and in a law-abiding nation,” Morsi said, speaking at the Cairo headquarters of the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party. Brotherhood officials said the results were initial because there were still appeals to be filed. “We are reaching out to Shafiq’s campaign to end the elections race and competition and to part amicably as friends” Mursi campaign official Yasser Ali said. But shortly before the final result the generals who have run the country since the overthrow of Mubarak issued new rules in a constitutional declaration outlining the president’s powers that made clear real power remains with the army. We will sit with the military council to discuss the constitutional decree amendments which we refuse fully and will go to Tahrir Square next Tuesday to protest against these amendments,” Ali said. He also said Mursi would only accept to swear an oath before the parliament that was dissolved by a court order last week.
The jubilation at Mursi’s headquarters was overshadowed however by a looming showdown between the Brotherhood and the ruling military, which issued a new constitutional document shortly after polls closed on Sunday. The document issued by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces grants the body legislative powers after a top court on Thursday ordered the dissolution of the Islamist-dominated parliament. The document also gives SCAF veto power over the text of a new permanent constitution, and states that no new parliamentary vote will be held until after a permanent constitution is approved.
The declaration appeared to put the military on a collision course with the Brotherhood, which called the constitutional declaration “null and unconstitutional.” The document was issued after a Thursday ruling from the constitutional court, which found a third of the parliament’s members had been elected illegally, effectively ordering the dissolution of the body.The military informed parliament after the ruling that it considered it dissolved, and Sunday’s declaration confirmed it was retaking the legislative power it handed the body in January, after a drawn-out election process. “The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces shall exercise the powers referred to under the first clause of article 56 (on legislative power)... until the election of a new People’s Assembly,” the document reads.Such an election cannot be held until a new permanent constitution is written and adopted by a referendum, it adds. The writing of the new constitution will be carried out by a “constitutional commission representing all segments of the society” that will have three months to complete its work, the document says. It also grants SCAF a veto right over any article of a draft constitution it considers “contrary to the supreme interests of the country.” Egypt’s parliament has already appointed a constituent panel to replace an initial group that was dissolved over allegations it was Islamist-dominated. But the declaration leaves it unclear whether that panel will be able to continue its work, and gives SCAF the right to form a new panel if the current body “is prevented from doing its work.” It also stipulates that SCAF “as currently constituted, has the power to decide on all matters related to the armed forces, the nomination of its commanders and the extension of their service.”Hmmmm......Get ready for the 'real bloodshed'.Will Obama again support the Muslim Brotherhood?Read the full story here.

Update 1. Katatny: SCAF's Complementary Constitutional Declaration is Null and Void.(IW).Katatni tells SCAF complementary constitutional declaration is – for many reasons, evidently unconstitutional, as he rejects both the dissolution of the elected Parliament and SCAF’s addendum to the Constitutional Declaration.Read the full story here.

Update2. Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood claims 53 percent victory in presidential vote.(AA).The latest statements from the Islamist group reveal Mursi has garnered 53 percent of the vote to 47 percent for his rival, ex-prime minister Ahmed Shafiq, with 99 percent of the ballots from nearly all of the country’s 13,000 polling stations counted. “Its a moment that all the Egyptian people have waited for,” he said.But Shafiq’s camp was quick to contest the claim by the Brotherhood. “We reject it completely,” Shafiq campaign official Mahmoud Baraka told reporters of the Brotherhood’s proclaimed victory.Read the full story here.