Shafiq win could lead to 'dangerous faceoff', says Brotherhood

Ahram Online, Wednesday 20 Jun 2012

Muslim Brotherhood spokesperson Mahmoud Ghozlan warns of confrontation between people and army if Ahmed Shafiq is declared Egypt's new president

There will be a "dangerous faceoff" between the people and the army if Ahmed Shafiq is declared Egypt's new president, Muslim Brotherhood spokesperson Mahmoud Ghozlan has warned.

Ahmed Shafiq is widely seen as the military junta's favoured candidate in the election runoff against Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Shafiq campaign's insistence that their candidate won the poll indicates the military junta and electoral commission have suspicious intentions, Ghozlan said in an interview with the Saudi-based Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper.

“Shafiq’s victory would signal an obvious military coup,” Ghozlan said. “I hope the military council listens to the will of the people.”

Meanwhile, Ghozlan insisted the group's guidance bureau would not be involved in the selection of Mohamed Morsi's presidential team.

In addition, the military junta is not in negotiations with the Brotherhood over Sunday's changes to the temporary constitution that reduced the powers of the incoming president, he insisted.

Mohamed Morsi declared himself the victor shortly after the runoff in Egypt's presidential poll on 16-17 June. However, Shafiq's campaign team responded with claims that they had proof their candidate had won.

Electoral commision head, Farouk Sultan, said the commission had received 400 appeals so far from the two candidates. Both candidates are expected to meet the commission on Wednesday to discuss the appeals.

Voter turnout was 46.4 per cent in the presidential election first round and 51.7 per cent in the second round, according to the commission.

The results announced by both campaigns are inaccurate and do not take into account the appeals that have been filed, Sultan added.

The election results are expected Thursday but the commission may need more time to investigate some of the appeals, according to the commission's secretary-general, Hatem Begato.

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