Egypt: Morsi, Shafiq headed to runoff

The Muslim Brotherhood's candidate and a veteran of ousted leader Hosni Mubarak's autocratic regime will face each other in a runoff election for Egypt's president, according to first-round results Friday. The divisive showdown dismayed many Egyptians, who fear either one means an end to any democratic gains produced by last year's uprising.

More than a year after protesters demanding democracy toppled Mubarak, the faceoff between the Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi and former air force chief and prime minister Ahmed Shafiq looked like a throwback to the days of his regime -- a rivalry between a military-rooted strongman promising a firm hand to ensure stability and Islamists vowing to implement religious law.

"The worst possible scenario," said Ahmed Khairy, spokesman for the Free Egyptians Party, one of the secular, liberal parties that emerged last year. Speaking to the Al-Ahram daily, he described Morsi as an "Islamic fascist" and Shafiq as a "military fascist." He said it would be hard to endorse either in the June 16-17 runoff.

The Morsi-Shafiq match will likely be a heated one. Each has die-hard supporters but is also loathed by significant sectors of the population.

The first-round race, held Wednesday and Thursday, turned out close. By Friday evening, counts gave Morsi 25.3 percent and Shafiq 24.9 percent with less than 100,000 votes difference.

More than 40 percent of votes went to candidates who were seen as more in the spirit of the revolution that toppled Mubarak; that is, that they were neither from the Brotherhood nor from the "feloul," or remnants from the old, autocratic regime.

In particular, those votes went to leftist Hamdeen Sabahi, who took third with 21.5 percent, and a moderate Islamist who broke with the Brotherhood, Abdel-Moneim Abolfotoh.