CAIRO: Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood held public elections today to elect two new members to its Guidance Council. The Brotherhood's elections committee announced this evening that Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim and Hossan Abu-Bakr were elected. The new members will succeed Mohamed Morsi and Essam el-Erian, who are part of the leadership of the Brotherhood-affiliated Freedom and Justice Party. The two new members won a runoff election between four candidates. Ibrahim received 77 votes and Abu-Bakr 61. The elections committee had announced earlier that Abdel Azim al-Sharkawy won the third available seat, replacing Saad Katatni. For the first time in the history of the Brotherhood, elections were conducted publicly and in front of the media in a five-star Cairo hotel. Under Egypt's former regime, the Brotherhood conducted their elections privately and orally.
