Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate and a veteran of ousted leader Hosni Mubarak's regime each won spots in the country's runoff election Friday, setting up a divisive showdown that could threaten the country's democratic progress.
According to results from the first round of voting Friday, the Brotherhood's candidate, Mohammed Morsi, is headed into the second round of the runoff election.
Former air force chief and prime minister Ahmed Shafiq similarly earned a place on the second ballot, pitting him against Morsi in what some are predicting to be a divisive presidential battle. The front-runners come from opposite ends of the political spectrum and both are seen as polarizing candidates.
The runoff election will be held on June 16-17, with the winner announced on June 21.
The final-round faceoff follows the electoral patterns of the past 30 years—where a Brotherhood candidate challenges someone from Mubarak's regime.
Ahmed Khairy, a spokesman for the Free Egyptians Party, one of the secular, liberal parties that emerged following last year's uprising, described the candidates as a threat to Egypt's recent progress.
"The worst possible scenario," Khairy told the Al-Ahram daily newspaper, describing Morsi as an "Islamic fascist" and Shafiq as a "military fascist."
The head-to-head matchup is expected to be bitter and heated. Each candidate has a group of die-hard supporters but is otherwise loathed by large sections of the general public.
The first round of voting took place on Wednesday and Thursday. By Friday evening, the state news agency was reporting that Morsi had received 25.3 per cent of the vote and Shafiq had received 24.9 per cent – less than 100,000 votes apart.
Leftist Hamdeen Sabahi narrowly placed in third with 21.5 per cent of the vote.
CTV's Middle East Bureau Chief Martin Seemungal was in Egypt during the first round of elections and said that Morsi's success is an illustration of how well the Brotherhood can organize and get people to go out and vote.
"Not many people thought he had a real chance," Seemungal told Â鶹´«Ã½ Channel Friday.
Morsi and the Brotherhood have campaigned on the promise to increase the role of Islam in the country--something that concerns moderate Egyptians, secularists and members of the Christian minority.
Seemungal said second place front-runner Shafiq is enjoying popularity because some Egyptians are "fed up" with many of the issues troubling the country.
Shafiq, who has the closest ties to the old Mubarak regime of all the candidates, is viewed as a leader who can step in with a "strong hand" and deal with the struggling economy, said Seemungal.
The winner will also have to find a way to balance power between the military—which has been ruling the country since the revolution ousted Mubarak nearly a year and a half ago—and the parliament.
Regardless of who the new president is, the one thing that is clear is that moderation is inevitable, said Seemungal.
"No matter who becomes the president, they will have to realize that they cannot go back. The Islamists cannot go back to ruling with an iron fist. They cannot bring in Sharia law because the Egyptians will go back to the streets," he said.
"Ahmed Shafiq cannot go back to the days of the Mubarak era because people will go back to the street. Both these candidates, even though they're from polar opposites of Egypt society, are going to have to moderate if they want to move forward."
With files from The Associated Press
