Egypt presidential poll results ‘due on Sunday’

The delayed results of Egypt’s presidential run-off will be announced on Sunday, the election commission has said.It has been considering appeals by the two candidates - Mohammed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood and the former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq.They have both claimed victory and say they will appoint unity governments.Muslim Brotherhood supporters have been demonstrating in central Cairo to demand the announcement of the result.The BBC’s Jon Leyne in the capital, Cairo, says the country is deeply polarised, and there are fears that the final announcement might only make matters worse.Results from last weekend’s run-off election were originally due out on Thursday. “Faruk Sultan, the head of the presidential election commission, will announce the results of the presidential election run-off on Sunday at 3:00pm (13:00 GMT),” the commission’s secretary general, Hatem Bagato, said in a statement.Muslim Brotherhood supporters are maintaining a vigil in Tahrir Square where on Friday tens of thousands of protesters gathered to denounce a move by Egypt’s ruling generals to seize sweeping powers. A pro-Ahmed Shafiq demonstration took place in the Nasr City neighbourhood of Cairo, according to AFP news agency.Hundreds of supporters held up pictures of Mr Shafiq and of Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, whilst shouting “the people and the army are one”, the agency said.Last weekend, the military dissolved parliament, claiming legislative power.On Friday, the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (Scaf) called on supporters of both candidates to accept the result.“The military must leave its political role and go back to its basic role which is protecting the country, not continuing to ruin the country and people’s affairs - this will not be accepted by the Egyptian people,” Abdel Nasser Hijab, a demonstrator in Tahrir Square, told the AP news agency.Correspondents say that there was less enthusiasm in the run-off election than there was for previous rounds of voting, and some called for a boycott or spoiled ballots.Since then Mr Mursi has secured the support of several leading liberal figures in Egypt, including activist Wael Ghoneim, who played a key role in the January 2011 revolution against Hosni Mubarak’s rule.Mr Shafiq came second to Mr Mursi in last month’s first round, in which turnout among the 52 million eligible voters was only 46%.But the former air force commander, who served briefly as former President Mubarak’s last prime minister, said on Thursday at his first public appearance since the run-off that he was confident of victory.Our correspondent reports that opponents of the Brotherhood are now running a concerted campaign to discredit its claim that Mr Mursi won the run-off.Media sympathetic to Mr Shafiq and the Scaf have begun to demonise the Brotherhood, our correspondent says.BBC