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Brotherhood claims early lead in Egypt presidential polls

25 May 2012 05:29 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The Muslim Brotherhood (MB) has claimed early lead in Egyptâ€™s historical presidential elections as the counting process is underway following the second and final day of the polls, APA reports quoting Press TV.

The party says that according to exit polls, its candidate Mohammed Mursi is leading the race, which finished on Friday, the Associated Press reported.

The elections marked Egyptâ€™s first free presidential polls since dictator Hosni Mubarak was toppled in a popular revolution last year.

Earlier in the day, results from about five percent of the polling stations emerged, putting Mursi on top at 35 percent.

He was followed by Mubarakâ€™s last Premier Ahmed Shafiq with 22 percent and independent Islamic candidate Abdel Moneim Abul Fotouh with 16 percent.

Official results are not expected in full until next Tuesday.

Mursi has also swept the country’s expatriate vote, securing 40 percent of the ballots cast by the Egyptians residing abroad.

The race is expected to go into a run-off between two of the hopefuls on June 16 and 17 if no candidate manages to get more than 50 percent of the votes.

50 million people were eligible to cast their ballots in the elections.