Egypt Postpones Naming Election Winner

The result of the weekend's presidential runoff election had been scheduled to be announced on Thursday, but the Supreme Elections Commission said it needs more time to look into complaints presented both candidates, the BBC reported, citing Egyptian state television.

Mohammed Mursi and Ahmed Shafiq both say they won. There have been some 400 election complaints and no new date has been set for the announcement of the result.

Nader Omran, a spokesman for Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood, told the BBC that the result announcement should not be delayed.

It will bring more tension to the people - they should end the story tomorrow (Thursday), he said.

The Muslim Brotherhood, whose candidate Mursi claimed victory on Monday, threatened to take to the streets if Shafiq, a former general, former premier and Mubarak ally, was declared the winner. But a leading Islamist told Reuters there would be no violence of the sort that devastated Algeria in the 1990s.

And the Shafiq camp, while insisting its data meant it was also confident of victory, called for unity, saying its candidate would offer senior posts to the Brotherhood and, if he lost, would accept defeat and be willing to serve under Mursi.