egypt-final-presidential-elections-2012

The Carter Center
Announcement of Election Results
The process of announcing the results of
an election is one of the most sensitive
tasks undertaken by an election authority.
Authoritative, timely, and accurate election results
significantly contribute to the perceived credibility of
an election and reduce uncertainty in the postelection
period. The timely and authoritative release of
results after the first round of polling and before second
round races is of particular importance for second
round candidates’ campaigns.
On May 28, 2012, four
days after the closing of
the polls, the chairman
of the PEC, Farouk
Sultan, announced the
results of the first round
of the presidential election.
Mohamed Morsi
received the largest vote
total, 5,764,952, or 24.8 percent of total valid votes
cast. Ahmed Shafiq came in second, with 5,505,327,
or 23.7 percent of valid votes cast. Hamdeen Sabahi
received the next highest total number of votes with
4,820,273, or 20.7 percent of valid votes cast. Given
that only seven postelectoral appeals of the results
were officially lodged, the PEC was able to announce
the results within the prescribed time period.
During the second round, over 450 appeals
were reportedly lodged. The PEC stated that the
announcement of final results for the second round
would be delayed for another four days, until the
commission had been able to adjudicate all second
round postelectoral appeals. On June 24, 2012, seven
days after the closing of the second round polls,
the PEC announced at a press conference the final
results of the presidential election. The chairman
of the PEC, Counselor Farouk Sultan, spoke at
length about the transparency and integrity of the
PEC before providing details of many but not all of
the reported 450 appeals lodged by both campaign
teams and the details of their resolution. (The
Center’s findings on electoral dispute resolution are
included in a subsequent section of this report.) At
the end of his speech, Judge Sultan announced the
victory of Mohamed Morsi with 13,230,131 votes, or
51.73 percent of the valid votes, to Ahmed Shafiq’s
12,347,380, or 48.27
percent of the valid votes.
Given that there was
suspicion among some
Authoritative, timely, and accurate
Egyptians that there
election results significantly contribute to could be manipulation
the perceived credibility of an election and of the results, the PEC
reduce uncertainty in the postelection period. chairman’s detailed focus
during the announcement
of results on the
final aggregation of
electoral results as well as the process of adjudication
of electoral appeals were important steps for boosting
confidence in the fairness of the final aggregation.
Nonetheless, the secrecy regarding the tabulation of
final results in Cairo and the PEC’s opaque approach
to resolving postelectoral appeals still invited allegations
and suspicions about the process.
Another controversy arose while the second round
votes were being counted. The Freedom and Justice
Party, the party of candidate Morsi, collected what
they claimed were all 351 results sheets from each of
the general committees, published them as a book,
and distributed the book widely. This book included
a spreadsheet, which the FJP claimed showed that
Morsi received 882,751 more votes than his rival,
Shafiq, in the second round, based on the totals
announced at all district general committees. Some in
Egypt felt this act was illegal, effectively an attempt
61