CAIRO - Egypt will hold a run-off next month in its first truly contested presidential election in which the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Mursi will face Ahmed Shafiq, the last prime minister of deposed leader Hosni Mubarak. Here are details about the election: HOW DID THE FIRST ROUND GO? Turnout in the first round on May 23 and 24 was 46 per cent of the 50 million eligible voters in a population of 82 million. No one secured more than 50 per cent of the vote, so the top two vote-getters, Mursi and Shafiq, go to the run-off on June 16 and 17. The result will be announced on June 21. The election committee disqualified 10 of 23 presidential hopefuls in April, including Omar Suleiman, Mubarak's former spy chief and briefly his vice president, and the Brotherhood's first-choice candidate Khairat al-Shater. One of the 13 remaining candidates subsequently withdrew. According to official results announced on Monday, leftist Hamdeen Sabahy came in third. Moderate Islamist Abdel Moneim Abol Fotouh was fourth and ex-Arab League chief Amr Moussa fifth. The breakdown of votes was as follows: 1. Mursi - 24.4 per cent 2. Shafiq - 23.3 per cent 3. Sabahy - 20.4 per cent 4. Abol Fotouh - 17.2 per cent 5. Moussa - 10.9 per cent The election committee rejected complaints by candidates about the conduct of the vote. WHO WILL WIN THE RUN-OFF? Shafiq and Mursi are both trying to woo the votes of the losing candidates, but no clear picture has emerged. Opinion polls in Egypt have proved unreliable in the past. Voters will now have a stark choice between an Islamist and a figure from the old Mubarak order. Mursi, a Brotherhood insider, can count on the movement's disciplined organisation and is already courting other candidates with promises of a coalition government. Shafiq appeals to those who want a firm hand to restore security, as well as to minority Christians who fear rising Islamist influence. A verdict in Mubarak's trial, due on June 2, could have a bearing on the election outcome, given Egypt's political volatility. The 84-year-old former president faces charges of corruption and complicity in the killings of protesters during the uprising that toppled him on Feb. 11, 2011. HOW DID EGYPT CHOOSE A PRESIDENT IN THE PAST? Mubarak, then vice-president, came to power when President Anwar Sadat was assassinated in 1981. Sadat, previously vice-president, had replaced Gamal Abdel Nasser when he died in 1970. For most of his 32 years in power, Mubarak was confirmed in office by sparsely attended single-candidate referendums. In 2005, under US pressure to open up, Egypt staged a multi-candidate election but the rules made it impossible for anyone to stage a realistic challenge. Mubarak won handily. He would have faced another election in 2011, when many wondered if he would step down in favour of his son Gamal. But a mass uprising ended Mubarak's rule in February last year and the former president and his two sons are now on trial.
