Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi wins Egypt's presidential race

• Muslim Brotherhood victory comes after reports of a deal
• Mohammed Morsi 51.7%, Ahmed Shafiq 48%
• Scenes of jubilation in Tahrir Square

Read the latest summary
Muslim Brotherhood's Morsi wins Egypt presidential election
Egyptian supporters of Muslim Brotherhood backed presidential candidate Mohammed Morsi celebrate after the announcement of the official results of the presidential elections, in Tahrir Square in Cairo Photograph: Mohamed Messara/EPA
Live blog: recap

5.16pm: Here's a summary of the main events:

Egypt

The Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi has become Egypt's first freely elected president after a delayed announcement of the results of last weekend's runoff. He beat former prime minister Ahmed Shafiq by more than almost 900,000 votes. Morsi secured 51.7% of the vote, compared to 48% for Shafiq.

Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the head of the military council which still holds all the levers of power in Egypt, congratulated Morsi on the victory. Morsi's win came after reports and speculation about a possible deal between the Brotherhood and the military council.

Morsi's victory was greeted with scenes of wild celebrations by tens of thousands of his supporters in Tahrir Square. The Muslim Brotherhood has vowed to stay in the square to protest at the military council's power grab. Under constitutional amendments announced while votes were being counted last week, the presidency holds very little power compared to the military. The military has also dissolved parliament and holds the final say on the drafting of a new constitution.

The Brotherhood hailed the victory as the start of new era for Egypt. It promised to appoint a cabinet that will "truly represent Egypt after revolution".

Syria

Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the plane that was downed by Syrian was not spying against Syria and was over international waters when it was hit. He said the plane had no "covert mission related to Syria," and it was purely on a training flight to test Turkey's radar capabilities, according to the Turkish daily Hurriyet. But the wreckage of the plane was reported to have been found in Syrian waters.

A ship carrying Russian helicopters to Syria, which turned back after its insurance was cut, is expected to resume its journey accompanied by at least one other vessel, according to the Russian Interfax news agency. The report is likely to reignite international criticism of Russia's arms deliveries to Syria.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has condemned the killing of of a Red Crescent volunteer in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor. Bashar al-Youssef, who was shot in his Red Crescent uniform, became the fourth ICRC/Red Crescent volunteer to die since the crisis began. Dr Abdul Rahman al-Attar, the president of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, said: "We are shocked by Bashar's death. It is completely unacceptable." It is unclear which side was responsible.

4.47pm: Egypt: William Hague sends his congratulations and expresses hope for democratic reform.

4.43pm: Egypt: Here's the moment Muslim Brotherhood supporters celebrated the result.

Scroll forward to around 1 minute 35 minutes for football style jubilation.

4.38pm: Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood supporters are in no mood to disperse, and will continue to demonstrate against the military council's power grab, according to Reuters:

"The peaceful protests will continue in the squares and across Egypt. The struggle for a new Egypt is just beginning," Gihad Haddad, a Brotherhood official, told Reuters. The group had called for open-ended protests last week.

"We will continue exerting pressure for change on all fronts: through the 'Renaissance' (election) program, the protests and through quickly uniting Egyptians to form a new government to begin its work," another senior Brotherhood official, Hassan Malek, told Reuters.

4.30pm: Egypt: More words of caution to counter the celebrations in Tahrir Square.

Shadi Hamid director of research at the Brookings Doha Centre:

But Liam Stack, stringer for the New York Times, says it is still a historic moment:

Egyptian field marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi

4.21pm: Egypt: There's been no word yet from Morsi or Shafiq. But Tantawi, the head of the ruling military council, has called Morsi to offer his congratulations, according to reports.

4.12pm: Egypt: The Muslim Brotherhood has been keen to play up Morsi's revolutionary credentials in its first statements since the result was announced.

Activists and wise heads don't believe it:

4.07pm: Egypt: Washington Post correspondent Ernesto Londoño assesses the mood in Tahrir Square.

3.54pm: Egypt: Some instant reactions:

Activist Gigi Ibrahim:

Blogger the Arabist:

Diplomat Thom Reilly:

Analyst Michael Hanna:

Academic Marc Lynch:

Journalist Robert Mackey:

3.48pm: Egypt: The campaign to spoil ballot papers registered some success. There were 843,252 invalid votes, which was around 3.1% of the turnout.

This is not as high as campaigners had hoped (they were looking for up to 7%), but more than the usual 1%.

3.37pm: Egypt: TV networks are showing ecstatic scenes in Tahrir Square.

morsi-wins

Al-Jazeera cut away from the conference to show a live feed from the square with no commentary.

Here's the final count:

Morsi: 13,230,131 votes (51.7%)
Shafiq: 12,347,380 (48%)

The turnout was 51% - bigger than the thought and bigger than the 46% of the first round.

The Brotherhood declares a new era.

We'll see.

3.28pm: Egypt: Mohammed Morsi has won with 51%.

Shafiq got 48%.

Wild celebrations in Tahrir Square.

3.19pm: Egypt: Sultan continues to go through each complaint. He is adding and subtracting votes to the respective candidates complaint by complaint. This really could take hours.

Jack Shenker can't bear it either:

Journalist Alaa Bayoumi is talking days:

3.15pm: Egypt: They can't bear the tension at the Shafiq campaign, according to journalist Rana Khazbak.

3.02pm: Egypt: An hour after the result should have been known, Sultan is still keeping us in suspense.

2.56pm: Egypt: More waffle. Even Britain's deputy ambassador to Egypt is getting undiplomatically frustrated.

2.52pm: Egypt: Farouk complains about "media lies" against his election commission. He says the commission rose above these "shenanigans", according to a translation by the BBC. "The commission applied the law when it looked into the ballots. There is nothing above the law," he said.

"The commission stood away from entering rivalry," Sultan claimed.

Get on with it man.

2.44pm: Egypt: Farouk Sultan, the head of the Supreme Presidential Election Commission, begins the announcement. He talks about "tension" building for months. (He could put us out of our misery now, but doesn't).

2.41pm: Egypt: This is going to strung out. They all stand for Egypt's national anthem. Ompa Ompa.

2.40pm: Egypt: Here we go, the members of the election commission have taken their seats and called for quiet.

2.36pm: Egypt: Still waiting...

2.26pm: Egypt: Shadi Hamid, director of research at the Brookings Doha Centre, appears convinced that Morsi should be declared the winner.

2.19pm: Egypt: When the press conferences finally gets under way we are likely to be subjected to a long detailed analysis of investigations into complaints, before the result is announced.

Amir Salah-Ahmed, editor of Egypt Monocle, sums up the view of many:

2.16pm: Egypt: While we wait, Jack Shenker puts the announcement in context:

2.05pm: Egypt: The agonising wait may go on for even longer.

Meanwhile, the Muslim Brotherhood is still predicting victory for its candidate Mohammed Morsi. It's official Twitter account just put this out:

1.58pm: Egypt: Not long now. Farouk Sultan, the head of the Supreme Presidential Election Commission, is preparing to announce the result, according to reports.

1.45pm: Egypt: With the press conference only moments away speculation about both Shafiq and Morsi wins continues.

Al-Jazeera's Evan Hill tweets:

Cairo-based journalist Bassem Sabry, points out:

Mohamed ElBaradei

1.22pm: Egypt: Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei shouldn't accept a government post if Mohammed Morsi wins the election, argues Mahmoud Salem better known as Sandmondkey.

Quite naturally, they offered it to ElBaradei , because he is our number one choice for replacement leaders in times of crisis. Amazingly, he is the almost always available option when someone in the revolution's camp gets stuck with the question of "who should we bring for this most unpleasant situation? ElBaradei, of course. Call him". Well, if you love ElBaradei, you should hope he doesn't accept that post, or else he would be set-up to take the blame for the bad economy set-up taking place.

The Brotherhood has denied negotiating with ElBaradei over a cabinet post, according to the Egypt Independent.

12.49pm: Egypt: Fears of violence are mounting ahead of the result, according to Reuters

Few troops were on the streets but security officials said they were ready to respond to trouble. Government workers around Cairo's Tahrir Square, where thousands of Muslim Brotherhood supporters had gathered, were encouraged to go home for the day.

Armoured vehicles were posted in the capital at the election committee headquarters and the government information office where a news conference will end an anxious week of waiting.

12.30pm: Egypt: Speculation has reached fever pitch ahead of the results, as rival demonstrations by Shafiq and Morsi supporters illustrate Egypt's polarization, and Mohamed ElBaradei meets the top general, says Abdel-Rahman Hussein in Cairo.

Speaking via Skype he said:

This is the most hotly anticipated press conference in Egyptian history. Any further delay is not good for our hearts and our minds.

The speculation is intense, every hour it changes. Now it looks like Morsi is winning.

There have been reports that the Muslim Brotherhood have been locked in negotiations with the army. The election result hinges on negotiations not voting. I think Morsi is possibly going to be named the president today, and for that to happen they are going to have to give up on [the dissolved] parliament and the constitution.

If Shafiq wins all hell breaks loose. It is going to be a very visceral, very strong reaction. It's going to be very big, and very negative, and not just by the Muslim Brotherhood. For all revolutionary forces to see Shafiq assume the presidency a year and half after you've ousted his boss is a bitter pill to swallow.

Don't be surprise if they say the rerun will have to be redone, or if they annul the results entirely. We would have to start over and start with the constitution this time and then parliamentary elections and presidential election.

Mohamed ElBaradei met the head of Scaf, Hussein Tantawi, last night, Abdu reports. Nobody is quite sure what was discussed. Competing theories suggest he was being offered the premiership under Morsi, or even heading a national salvation government if the presidentail poll result is annulled.

Meanwhile, "revolutionary forces for the first time ever find themselves on the couch," Abdu said. "They are just watching the Muslim Brotherhood in Tahrir and the pro-Shafiq supporters in Nasr city. They are thinking 'things have changed somewhat'," he said.

The number of Shafiq supporters rivalled Muslim Brotherhood camp, in the most recent rallies, Abdu said.

That has a lot to do with anti-Muslim Brotherhood that a lot of people feel in this country. It really has mobilised a lot of people who would normally have stayed at home.

If the Brotherhood had built alliances with secularist forces earlier, Egypt may have avoided this current this crisis, Abdu argues.

11.33am: Syria: The wreckage of the Turkish fighter jet shot down by Syria on Friday has been found in Syrian waters, Reuters reports, citing Turkish news channels.

11.09am: Egypt: Supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate Mohammed Morsi have continued their sit-in/protest ahead of the result, according to video from Photojournalist Cliff Cheney.

11.05am: Syria: Turkey has called for an extraordinary Nato meeting over the downing of its plane by Syria in international airspace, AP reports citing Turkish TV.

TRT television reported Sunday that Turkey has sought the NATO meeting for Tuesday.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told State TV that Turkey would seek the meeting over article 4 of the Nato charter concerning Friday's incident.

British foreign secretary William Hague

Meanwhile, Britain's foreign secretary William Hague said the UK "stands ready to pursue robust action" at the UN following the shooting down of Turkish plane by Syria.

In a statement he said:

I am gravely concerned by the Syrian regime's action in shooting down a Turkish military plane on 22 June. When I spoke to Turkish Foreign Minister Davutoglu on 23 June, he told me that the plane had been shot down without warning.

This outrageous act underlines how far beyond accepted behaviour the Syrian regime has put itself and I condemn it wholeheartedly. My thoughts and sympathies are with the families and friends of the missing Turkish pilots. I have made clear to foreign minister Davutoglu the UK's strong support for the Turkish government at this difficult time.

The Assad regime should not make the mistake of believing that it can act with impunity. It will be held to account for its behaviour. The UK stands ready to pursue robust action at the United Nations security council.

This deplorable incident underlines the urgent need to find a solution to the current crisis in Syria in order to bring an end to the violence and to achieve a genuine political transition. We support the Joint UN and Arab League Special Envoy's continuing efforts on this.

10.52am: Egypt: Here's a selection of some of the predictions of what's going to happen today:

Activist Gigi Ibrahim:

Blogger and analyst Issandr el-Amrani:

Activist Ahmad Aggour:

tony-blair-marr

10.34am: A battle between secularist and Islamist forces will dictate what happens next in the Middle East according to according to Britain's former prime minister Tony Blair.

Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr show he said the Arab Spring was not analogous to the fall of the Berlin Wall. "People from Eastern Europe looked over the wall. There was a united view of what they wanted. They wanted what we had in western Europe and by and large they got it," he claimed.

Blair added: "In the this region there are two very different views as to what comes next after you lift the lid on these dictatorships. One that is very much secular and modernising, liberal-minded. The other is very much based on a religious view of society."

Blair, Middle East envoy to the US, EU, Russia and the UN, said such views were irreconcilable.

We have got to remain engaged with this process. We should be supporting a programme of evolution across this region. We should understand that revolution will throw up, these very dangerous and toxic forces - you can see this from Iraq indeed. Short term this is going to be really really difficult. Long term this is good. The good news from the Middle East is that people want freedom. The bad news is that they are going to have a struggle getting to a form of democracy that is genuinely open minded and pluralistic.

9.38am: (all times BST) Welcome to a Sunday edition of Middle East Live focusing on the Egyptian presidential election and the latest from Syria.

We will have all the build up to the result in Egypt; the announcement itself at around 2pm; and then the reaction.

We will also have all the latest fallout on the shooting down of a Turkish jet by Syrian forces.

Here's a roundup of the key developments from Egypt and Syria:

Egypt

The delayed election results are due to be announced at 3pm local time (2pm BST) as tension mounts in Cairo and both sides continue to claim victory.

The BBC's Cairo correspondent John Leyne says:

Egypt awaits this election result, nervous about the consequences, and with opinion deeply polarised. The Muslim Brotherhood are convinced that their candidate, Mohamed Morsi, is the winner. They've produced documents they say prove it. And if the result does not confirm it, they will believe the election has been stolen from them.

The former prime minister, Ahmed Shafiq, also claims victory. His supporters blame international media, and even Western governments, for wanting to hand victory to the Brotherhood. They warn of the dire consequences if Islamists take control.

The military council and the Muslim Brotherhood are trying to thrash out a deal to end the current standoff, but if no agreement can be found Shafiq is expected to be declared president, Ahram reports. A leading Brotherhood figure said: "But if no deal is reached, and if the SCAF insists on taking everything and giving nothing, then we would not be surprised if they announce Shafiq as president."

A Brotherhood spokesman, Jihad el-Haddad, said future talks with the generals would have to be conducted with newly formed "national front" it had agreed with more secular figures, the New York Times reports.

In so doing, the Brotherhood is acceding to arguments for greater collaboration and openness that have been for years advanced by its more liberal leaders ...

He acknowledged ... that most Egyptians now believed that the weeklong delay in the announcement had turned the declaration of a president into a bargaining chip in the generals' indirect negotiations with the Brotherhood and its new allies.

Shafiq supporters gathered in Nasr City on Saturday, ahead of the results chanting against slogans against the Muslim Brotherhood, the al-Jazeera reports. Protesters chanted "Down with the rule of the Supreme Guide".

A state TV presenter has accused controllers of the station of bias coverage in favour of Shafiq and the military council in a live broadcast, the Egypt Independent reports.

Sherif Abdel Wahab said the director of the programme had ordered coverage of the protests in Nasr city in support of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces and presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq, and to ignore the much larger gathering of protesters in Tahrir Square.

Al-Jazeera has footage of both Shafiq and Morsi rallies ahead of today's announcement.

Its report is a useful summary of the build up to the results.

Syria

Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the plane that was downed by Syrian was not spying against Syria and was over international waters when it was hit. He said the plane had no "covert mission related to Syria," and it was purely on a training flight to test Turkey's radar capabilities, according to the Turkish daily Hurriyet.

Turkey's leaders have warned that they will take "necessary" action in response to incident. President, Abdullah Gül, said Turkish and Syrian forces were working together to search for the two missing crew of the F-4 aircraft, which was shot down over the Mediterranean on Friday and that any cover-up would not be possible.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has condemned the killing of of a Red Crescent volunteer in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor. Bashar al-Youssef, who was shot in his Red Crescent uniform, became the fourth ICRC/Red Crescent volunteer to die since the crisis began. Dr Abdul Rahman al-Attar, the president of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, said: "We are shocked by Bashar's death. It is completely unacceptable." It is unclear which side was responsible.

We have switched off comments on this old version of the site. To comment on crosswords, please switch over to the new version to comment. Read more...