BICOM

The First results after polls closed in Egypt’s presidential election show that Mohammed Morsi of the Freedom and Justice Party, the political party of the Muslim Brotherhood, has taken an early lead, according to a report in the Daily Telegraph this morning. Official pollsters have stressed that the count would be long, with official results not due till Tuesday. However, other campaigns, including that of Amr Moussa, the former Arab League secretary-general long considered the front-runner, also said Morsi was ahead.

So far exit polls make the second-spot for the subsequent run-off too close to call, with Moussa, Abdulmoneim Aboul Fotouh, a moderate Islamist, Hamdeen Sabahi, a left-wing nationalist, and Ahmed Shafiq, the last prime minister to serve Hosni Mubarak before he was ousted in a popular uprising, all in with a chance.

Earlier, the Muslim Brotherhood said its exit polls showed its candidate was in the lead. An official from the Brotherhood said this morning that his group expected that next month’s run-off would be contested by Morsi and Shafif. “It is clear that the run-off will be between Mohamed Mursi and Ahmed Shafiq,” the official told Reuters, adding that the group’s governing body would meet soon to determine its campaign strategy for the run-off. He added that Mursi had 25 per cent and Shafiq had 23 per cent of the votes. The reliability of the Brotherhood’s polls cannot be confirmed. However, Egypt’s regional television channels, citing their own exit polls, have also placed Morsi in the lead, with either Shafiq or Sabahi vying for the second spot.

Mosri progressing to the next stage of Egypt’s presidential election would be a remarkable comeback for the Muslim Brotherhood. It was not until Mosri’s mentor, Khairat el-Shater, was disqualified from the race that he became the choice of the Muslim Brotherhood. A man widely seen as lacking in charisma, some Egyptians deride him as the “spare tire,’’ a reference to his backup role. The Muslim Brotherhood also faced pronounced criticism this spring when it reneged on a promise to stay out of the presidential race.