Mohammed Morsi named Egypt's 1st Islamist president after freest elections in history

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Associated Press

Story Created: Sun Jun 24, 2012 2:53 PM

Story Updated: Sun Jun 24, 2012 2:53 PM

CAIRO — The freest elections in Egypt's history have produced the country's first Islamist president.


The country's election commission has declared Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Morsi the winner of last week's presidential runoff. He won just under 52 percent of the vote, to 48 percent for former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq.


It was the culmination of the tumultuous first phase of a transition launched 16 months ago with the uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak. A ruling military council headed by Mubarak's defense minister of 20 years replaced the autocratic leader.


A spokesman for the new leader's campaign says the revolution has passed an important test, but he adds, "the road is still long."


A new struggle with the military is expected, aimed at restoring the powers that the ruling generals stripped from the presidency before the victor was declared.


The outcome was also not the one desired by most of the liberal and secular youth groups that drove the uprising.


Morsi will now have to calm public fears that he will push to remake Egypt as an Islamist state and show that he will represent a broader cross-section of the Egyptian public.


White House congratulates Egypt's president-elect


WASHINGTON — The White House is congratulating Egypt's president-elect, Mohammed Morsi, and urging him to advance national unity as he forms a new government.


White House press secretary Jay Carney says Morsi's victory is a milestone in Egypt's transition to democracy after decades of authoritarian rule under Hosni Mubarak.


The Obama administration had expressed no public preference in advance of Sunday's announcement that the Islamist presidential candidate had defeated Ahmed Shafiq, who was the last prime minister under Mubarak.