25/05/2012 14:16
Muslim Brotherhood celebrates victory of its candidate
The Muslim Brotherhood has quickly staked a claim for its candidate to advance to a runoff vote, saying its exit polls showed him leading in Egypt's landmark presidential election to succeed ousted leader Hosni Mubarak, the New York Daily News reports.
As vote-counting began on Thursday, exit polls by several Arab television stations also suggested the Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi was ahead of the pack of 13 candidates. The reliability of the various exit surveys was not known, and a few hours after the end of two days of voting, only a tiny percentage of the ballots had been counted.
But the swiftness of the Brotherhood's claim showed its eagerness to plant its flag and establish in the public eye that Morsi had, at least, won entry into a second round vote. There are five prominent candidates, but none is expected to win outright in the first round. A run-off between the two leading contenders would be held June 16-17.