An appeal filed by Ahmed Shafiq challenging the results of the 2012 presidential elections was rejected on Thursday. The runner up in the 2012 and former prime minister under former president Hosni Mubarak challenged the results of the elections in which ousted president Mohamed Morsi defeated him, alleging that the poll had seen electoral fraud. Among the grievances in the lawsuit were reports that entire Christian villages in Upper Egypt were prevented from reaching the polls. The Presidential Elections Committee rejected the appeal by citing Article 28 of the constitutional declaration under which the elections were held, according to state-owned MENA, which prevents the challenging of the results of the first post-25 January presidential elections. Shafiq left the country following his loss in the summer of 2012 and has not returned to Egypt since.
