Egypt’s weekend presidential vote, which ended with both sides declaring victory, is going to remain unresolved for the foreseeable future, as the nation’s junta has announced that the planned release of results on Thursday morning has been cancelled, with no new date set.
The junta had already made the results all but moot, since they issued an edict the moment the polls closed granting themselves exclusive legislative power, while the president is left as little more than a figurehead.
And even though both the Mubarak regime’s remnant’s candidate Ahmed Shafiq and the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate Mohammed Mursi have declared victory, both sides are also claiming broad electoral fraud on behalf of their opponent.
The official count, to the extent it took place, saw preliminary results released at the provincial level which, according to the Egyptian media, showed a narrow Mursi victory. Since then, the Shafiq campaign has claimed that they had data showing a victory of their own, but even more narrow than the semi-official account. Its unclear when, or even if, the actual count may be known.
