Egypt delays runoff result as protests loom

DHAKA: Officials have postponed declaring a winner in Egypt`s disputed presidential election, sending political tensions soaring as the country awaits its first new leader in three decades.

Adding to the confusion and uncertainty on Wednesday were conflicting reports about the health of Hosni Mubarak, who is serving a life sentence for failing to stop the killing of protesters in the uprising that ousted him last year.

At one point on Tuesday, he was said to be near death, while some believed the report was a pretext by sympathetic allies of Mubarak to transfer him out of prison to a more comfortable facility.
 
Egyptians elect first new president in post-Mubarak era
Last weekend`s runoff election was long touted as a landmark moment, the choice of Egypt`s first civilian president to take over the generals who have ruled since Mubarak`s removal on February 11, 2011.

Instead, it has turned into a confrontation between the Islamists of the Muslim Brotherhood and the entrenched elements of Mubarak`s old regime, including the military.

Thousands of Muslim Brotherhood supporters, along with some secular youth revolutionary groups, camped out Wednesday night in Cairo`s Tahrir Square, the birthplace of last year`s uprising, and denounced the military, trying to push back against a series of power grabs by the generals last week.

BDST: 0845 HRS, JUN 21, 2012

Source: Aljazeera
SA