Egyptians welcome new president
THE Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Mursi has won the bitterly contested race for Egypt's first democratically-elected president, prompting scenes of jubilation amongst the thousands gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square to hear the long-awaited election results.
Dr Mursi won 51 per cent of the vote, while his rival, Ahmed Shafiq, a former air force general who served as prime minister in the dying days of the regime of Hosni Mubarak, won 48 per cent of the vote.
In a speech that stretched to 45 minutes, the head of the Presidential Electoral Commission, Farouk Sultan, described the announcement as an important step "in building our emerging democracy".
Egyptians have anticipated this moment for so long - it has been 16 months since the popular uprising forced Mubarak from power and speculation continued to the last minute, with the electoral commission typically late for its own announcement.
After enduring 30 years of a dictatorship that ended with an economy in freefall and the military in firm control, Egyptians are weary.
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