Thousands of protesters filled Cairo's Tahrir Square for Friday prayers as Egypt's presidential candidates accused each other of trying to steal the election. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
By Reuters
CAIRO -- Thousands of flag-waving protesters filled Cairo's Tahrir Square for Friday prayers as Egypt's presidential candidates, an Islamist and former general, accused each other of trying to steal an election whose result is still not known five days on.
The Muslim Brotherhood, whose candidate Mohammed Morsi says he has already won, called on supporters to gather at the birthplace of last year's Arab Spring revolt until the ruling military council rescinds orders that curb the new president's powers and dissolved the new, Islamist-led parliament.
The delay in announcing the results of two days of voting which ended on Sunday also raised fears that the army may try to swing the election to Ahmed Shafiq, a former air force commander whom Mubarak made prime minister just before his fall.
Tens of thousands of people fill Cairo's Tahrir Square, calling on the military to relinquish power to an elected president. NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports.
A result is not expected until Saturday or Sunday, giving the country a tense weekend, although the vast majority, many not greatly enamored of either candidate in the run-off, were staying at home and passing Friday's Muslim weekend as normal.
'Classic counter revolution'
For many -- both in the organized mass Islamist movements and in the more fragmented secular, liberal opposition -- a Shafiq victory, coupled with the military council taking powers over legislation and drafting a constitution, would mean that the six decades of army rule they thought were over, will in fact go on.
"This is a classic counter revolution that will only be countered by the might of protesters," said Safwat Ismail, 43, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood who came from the Nile Delta. "I am staying in the square until the military steps down."
Marwan Naamani / AFP - Getty Images
Thousands of supporters of Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate Mohammed Morsi pack Cairo's landmark Tahrir Square on Friday.
Mahmoud Mohammed, a bearded, 31-year-old marine engineer from Alexandria among a group from the more fundamentalist Salafist movement camping on the square, insisted they were not looking for a battle, but wanted to see democracy installed.
"The people elected a parliament and they put it in the rubbish bin. We need the army to hand over," he said, adding: "No one came here for a fight. We need democracy."
Prayer
Around him, the broad traffic interchange by the Nile in central Cairo was filled with makeshift tents offering shade from the midday sun, hawkers offering an array of goods from tea to "I Love Tahrir Square" T-shirts and a mostly devout crowd of men, many bussed in from the provinces, who knelt in prayer.
Official results from Egypt's presidential election have been delayed, sending political tensions soaring. ITV's Lindsey Hilsum reports.
Other parts of the crowd chanted and waved Egyptian flags.
The dissolution of parliament ordered by judges appointed under Mubarak and enforced by the army; the military decree on new constitutional arrangements; and the delay in announcing the president by an electoral commission appointed under the old regime have sapped confidence in a process Egyptians hoped would lead to real reform.
Shafiq, who was Mubarak's last premier when the army forced out the dictator to appease the Tahrir protesters, challenged Morsi's self-proclaimed victory and said on Friday he was sure he had won, despite Islamist pressure on officials.
He stopped short of emulating Morsi, who claimed outright victory on the basis of the Brotherhood's own tally of results from local polling stations, but said was "confident."
At a televised address to whooping and cheering supporters, Shafiq said: "These protests in the squares, the campaigns of terror and the media manipulation are all attempts to force the election committee to announce a particular result."
Philippe Bouchon / AFP - Getty Images
The President of Egypt for nearly 30 years, Mubarak was an advocate for peace in the Middle East and a major U.S. ally, but Egyptians eventually grew tired of his corrupt regime and he was ousted in a popular revolt in February 2011.
In a country where virtually no one can remember an election that was not rigged before last year, trust is low, not least among Brotherhood officials, many of whom, like Morsi, were jailed under Mubarak for their political activities.
The same electoral commission that handed an improbable 90 percent of a November 2010 parliamentary vote to Mubarak's supporters - a result which fueled the protests that brought him down a few weeks later - sits in judgment on the new presidency.
Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Mahmoud Ghozlan said on Thursday the delay "generates concern, no doubt", expressing fear that the authorities were getting ready to announce Shafik the winner. "The doubt extends to this possibility."
Egyptian media have described a nation on edge.
Protesters in Egypt's Tahrir Square are suspicious of official statements regarding the health of ousted leader Hosni Mubarak. An electoral commission has said it will not announce the result of Egypt's presidential election until Thursday. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
Al-Ahram, the main establishment newspaper, noted there was intense pressure from within Egypt - and from the army's key sponsor, the United States - to sort out the situation quickly to ensure pledges of democracy were met.
It noted that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had called for an "inclusive democratic process" and said the army must not "dominate or subvert the constitutional authority."
"The interest of the nation goes before narrow interests," said reformist politician Mohamed ElBaradei, a former U.N. diplomat and Nobel peace laureate on Twitter. "What is required immediately is a mediation committee to find a political and legal exit from the crisis. Egypt is on the verge of explosion."
Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is suffering from ailing health and meanwhile, thousands of activists are taking to Tahrir Square in protest of the nation's military rule. Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer and MSNBC Military Analyst Col. Jack Jacobs join MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan to explain the situation abroad.
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