Following Egypt's historic presidential elections, tensions continue to mount as both candidates: Ahmed Shafiq former Prime Minister under Mubarak and the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate Mohamed Mursi claim victory Shafiq remained adamant that he gained the constituent majority at a press conference held in Cairo on Thursday night. “I am confident that I will be the next president” he stated; the crowd jubilantly reacted chanting that on Sunday afternoon Shafiq will be proclaimed president. “When I become president I will extend my hand to all Egyptians” he added; a welcoming statement to Egypt's Coptic minority. The former aviation Minister was absolute concerning his majority win. “The numbers are indicative of my victory which will be confirmed by Supreme Presidential Electoral Commission (SPEC) on Sunday,” he asserted; whilst criticising the Muslim Brotherhood's count as fraudulent. “The Muslim Brotherhood's numbers have been tampered with and are thus invalid this will be revealed to all when SPEC announces the final results,” he affirmed confidently in his closing statement, which was followed by a festive atmosphere in which participants congregated on the stage singing and dancing. The mood throughout the conference was celebratory with the crowd continuously chanting pro Shafiq slogans and began with Shafiq requesting people to stand and sing the Egyptian national anthem. SPEC initially announced on Wednesday that the final results for Egypt's contentious presidential elections will be declared on Saturday or Sunday; with a follow up statement leaving the result date open ended. Earlier in the week Shafiq campaign sources were also resolute that their candidate will soon be pronounced the new president of Egypt. “Shafiq is leading by 51.5-52%; we have all the evidence to support this statement which will be soon be available to the public once SPEC announces his win,” affirmed Ahmed Serhan, the Shafiq campaign spokesperson. When questioned further concerning the figures that have been released thus far exhibiting Mursi's win, Shafiq campaign lawyer Hassan Aboul-Enein replied “Egyptian people must question the sources they are relying on; most media sources are basing their assumptions on the Muslim Brotherhood's figures which are bias towards their candidate” stated Aboul-Enein, further elaborating. “What Mursi's campaign has been doing since early Sunday morning is illegal; announcing Mursi's presidency before the official announcement of the results by SPEC is simply unacceptable! “ he continued. “It is trying to confuse the Egyptian people so that when Shafiq wins, Mursi will claim the elections were fraudulent and thus have pretence to instigate violence,” Aboul-Enein added; justifying Shafiq's decision to wait until SPEC's official announcement before claiming victory. Karim Selim another Spokesman for the Shafiq campaign reinforced the lack of reliability of the figures released thus far by the MB and many media sources. “If you anaylse the figures thoroughly you will notice inconsistency. For instance study the figures released for the Gharbia governorates where 200,000 votes were incorrectly reported. Approximately 800,000 votes that we know of have been falsely reported thus far, excluding all the violations committed by the Mursi campaign”. Another campaign source Amr Hussein also highlighted media sources lack of credibility “Al Hayat TV channel exhibited false figures; moreover Gharabia, Minya, Cairo, Sohag and Alexandrian are some of the areas with the most violations”. Over the next few days Egyptians wait eagerly for SPEC's confirmation hoping to put an end to the controversy behind the second round of the presidential elections, in order to begin a new presidential era.
