Islamist Morsi Wins Egyptian Presidential Vote - Wall Street Journal

Cheers erupt in Cairo's Tahrir Square, after Islamist Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood is declared Egypt's first democratically elected president. (Video:Reuters/Photo:Getty Images).

CAIRO—Egypt erupted into celebrations after an election commission named Mohammed Morsi the first democratically elected president in Egyptian history and the first elected Islamist head of state in the Arab world, marking a pivotal moment in a chaotic regional shift toward democracy.

See events in Egypt's regime change.

The election of an Islamist introduces a moment of anxiety for secular-minded Egyptians, Western governments and Egypt's powerful neighbors.

It also marks the symbolic beginning of the end for an old order of Arab leaders.

Agence France-Presse/Getty Images Egyptians celebrating in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Sunday after Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Morsi, on poster, was declared the winner of the presidential vote.

The election of a politician aligned with the once illegal Muslim Brotherhood to lead the Arab world's most-populous nation will send shock waves through a region that for decades has been dominated by Western-backed, secular-minded autocrats.

"It is a revolution against the very nature of the Arab state that is not accountable to its people," said Khaled Fahmy, a history professor at the American University in Cairo. "For the first time, we have the people in the largest Arab country having and dictating their say despite ferocious opposition."

Mr. Morsi, the head of the Muslim Brotherhood's political party, won 51.7% in runoff presidential elections held a week earlier, said Justice Farouq Sultan, the chairman of the election commission, narrowly defeating former air-force general and former regime loyalist Ahmed Shafiq, who took 48.3%.

Reuters Supporters of Mohammed Morsi celebrate his victory at the election in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Sunday.

In a nod to the new beginnings, Justice Sultan saluted Mr. Morsi as the new president of Egypt's "second republic."

The election results begin a new diplomatic phase for the Western governments that for decades relied on a compliant President Hosni Mubarak as a bulwark against the powerful Islamists he and other autocrats so often suppressed.

A Morsi presidency threatens to upset a fragile U.S.-backed diplomatic balance.

Along with the U.S., the oil-rich Gulf states helped underwrite Mr. Mubarak's military-backed, secular rule that safeguarded a decades-old peace treaty between Egypt and Israel and ensured a measure of stability in the volatile region.

Agence France-Presse/Getty Images Mohammed Morsi waving to a crowd during a campaign rally in Cairo last month.

Still, the sight of Mr. Morsi preparing to assume the highest office in the Arab world's most populous nation will likely galvanize the violent uprisings in Syria and Bahrain and buoy the continuing democratic transitions in Yemen, Libya and Tunisia.

The mood in Egypt's capital Sunday recalled the day of Mr. Mubarak's own departure more than a year ago. Public squares throughout the country filled with throngs of Egyptians pressing for fundamental political changes that have so far proven elusive.

They erupted in thunderous cheers when the election commission announced Mr. Morsi's victory.

Mr. Morsi will assume a presidency crippled by military-imposed constitutional changes that have stripped the office of most of its powers. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which has ruled Egypt since Mr. Mubarak stepped down in February 2011, has promised to hand over power to the incoming presidency by the end of the month. Much of the military's writ, however, will remain largely in place. The military assumed legislative authority 10 days ago after a high constitutional court ruled to dissolve an Islamist-dominated parliament that until Sunday had been the most tangible achievement of Egypt's democratic transition.

Shortly after polls closed Sunday a week ago, the military enraged Islamists and many secular-minded Egyptians by issuing a constitutional declaration that cut short the powers of the presidency. In the past two weeks, the military has also awarded itself expanded law-enforcement capabilities that some analysts said amounted to a return to military rule.

Thousands of demonstrators, most of whom are aligned with Mr. Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, have spent the past week in Tahrir Square protesting what some politicians have called a military coup.

Delays in the announcement of results kept Egyptians on tenterhooks throughout the week. Hotels in downtown Cairo on Sunday boarded up their doors and windows in preparation for a violent reaction as military helicopters circled overhead. Rumors circulated that the generals were holding the presidency hostage until the Brotherhood agreed to accept their constitutional restrictions.

Mohammed Morsi is Egypt's newest president. On Sunday afternoon, Egypt's electoral commission announced that the Muslim Brotherhood's backup candidate beat out Hosni Mubarak's last Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik. (Video:Reuters/Photo:Getty Images)

But confrontation between Mr. Morsi's Brotherhood and the military regime seemed far from Egyptians' minds later Sunday. In a news conference at the Brotherhood's campaign headquarters, cheering Morsi supporters shouted praise at a military regime with which they have spent much of the past several months in open confrontation.

Shortly after the results were announced, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi phoned Mr. Morsi to congratulate him on his win.

Even amid the celebrations, the confrontation between the military and protesters looked set to continue. In a television interview after the results, Mohamed Al Baltagi, a senior member of the Brotherhood, said the group had "learned their lesson" and wouldn't leave the square until the military transferred power to Mr. Morsi.

The mood at Mr. Shafiq's headquarters across the Nile River, however, abruptly turned against the generals to whom Mr. Shafiq had once sworn loyalty.

Mr. Shafiq's supporters have accused the Brotherhood of defrauding the vote in their favor and holding the election commission hostage by releasing their own vote tallies a week ahead of official results.

Immediately after the commission announced its numbers, dozens of supporters gathered outside Mr. Shafiq's headquarters in an upper-class Cairo suburb began wailing and screaming in anger.

Mr. Shafiq rode a wave of frustration to the runoff vote by promising to impose law and order over a political transition that has delivered little to the Egyptian public other than rising prices, a spike in violent crime and anxiety over their country's future.

Hysterical, weeping Shafiq supporters screamed "fraud" and spoke of the military selling out to the "godless" Brotherhood.

Getty Images A supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, overcome by emotion, is carried onto a stage in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Sunday as Egyptians celebrated the announcement that Mohammed Morsi had been elected their new president, with 51.7% of the votes cast in the runoff.

A group of young men went to the nearby traffic circle and threw stones at a billboard bearing Mr. Morsi's portrait while others alternated between chants of "the people demand the fall of the military regime" and "the people demand the execution of the field marshal," a pointed and unusual slogan for the Shafiq constituency.

The billboard was eventually torn down and set aflame.

The wider Arab world is greeting Mr. Morsi's victory with a mixture of enthusiasm and dismay.

Officials in the oil-rich Arab states of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates view the Muslim Brotherhood as a threat to their rule second only to the Shiite-led Islamic Republic of Iran because of the group's criticism of their traditional authoritarian rule.

These countries quietly applauded the Egyptian military's orders last week that dismissed the Muslim Brotherhood-led parliament and neutered the powers of the presidency.

However, Mr. Morsi is likely to receive a boost of support from natural-gas powerhouse Qatar, which has hosted exiled Muslim Brotherhood leaders for years and given the group a powerful platform on its government-financed al-Jazeera Arab news network.

Since the start of the Egyptian uprising last year, Qatar has already promised $500 million in financial aid to Cairo. Qatari investors have also promised more than $10 billion in investments in Egyptian infrastructure projects.

In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office responded with a statement saying, "Israel appreciates the democratic process in Egypt and respects the results of the presidential election. Israel looks forward to continuing cooperation with the Egyptian government on the basis of the peace treaty between the two countries, which is in the joint interest of both peoples and contributes to regional stability."

—Margaret Coker, Joshua Mitnick and Lara El-Gibaly
contributed to this article.

Write to Matt Bradley at matt.bradley@dowjones.com, Charles Levinson at charles.levinson@wsj.com and Tamer El-Ghobashy at tamer.el-ghobashy@wsj.com

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Lugar's Fate in Hands of Indiana Voters - Wall Street Journal

Indiana voters will decide Tuesday whether one of the nation's longest-serving senators keeps his seat. The result could have an impact on Congress, the parties, and the fight for control of the Senate.

Republican Sen. Richard Lugar has been in the Senate for 36 years, establishing himself as one of his party's leading voices on foreign affairs and as a centrist figure willing to work on occasion with Democrats.

Despite this record, or because of it, Mr. Lugar has faced a withering onslaught this year from Indiana treasurer Richard Mourdock, who is supported by an array of tea-party groups and ...

Indiana voters will decide Tuesday whether one of the nation's longest-serving senators keeps his seat. The result could have an impact on Congress, the parties, and the fight for control of the Senate.

Republican Sen. Richard Lugar has been in the Senate for 36 years, establishing himself as one of his party's leading voices on foreign affairs and as a centrist figure willing to work on occasion with Democrats.

Despite this record, or because of it, Mr. Lugar has faced a withering onslaught this year from Indiana treasurer Richard Mourdock, who is supported by an array of tea-party groups and ...

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UN observers tour rebel-held town in Syria - Atlanta Journal Constitution

By ZEINA KARAM

The Associated Press

BEIRUT — U.N. cease-fire monitors toured a rebel-held town in central Syria Sunday with army defectors, while government troops stormed and shelled a Damascus suburb, activists said.

This image made from video made available by Syrian TV shows United Nations observers during a visit to Homs, Syria, Saturday, April 21, 2012. Five U.N. truce monitors ventured Saturday into the heart of the Syrian uprising, one of the hardest-hit opposition strongholds, and were thronged by residents clamoring for foreign military help to oust President Bashar Assad. Activists said Homs, which has been battered by tank and mortar shells fired by regime forces for weeks, was relatively calm during the visit, except for the sound of sporadic gunfire, and that troops pulled armored vehicles off the streets.(AP Photo/Syria TV via AP video) TV OUT SYRIA OUT
This image made from video made available by Syrian TV shows United Nations observers during a visit to Homs, Syria, Saturday, April 21, 2012. Five U.N. truce monitors ventured Saturday into the heart of the Syrian uprising, one of the hardest-hit opposition strongholds, and were thronged by residents clamoring for foreign military help to oust President Bashar Assad. Activists said Homs, which has been battered by tank and mortar shells fired by regime forces for weeks, was relatively calm during the visit, except for the sound of sporadic gunfire, and that troops pulled armored vehicles off the streets.(AP Photo/Syria TV via AP video) TV OUT SYRIA OUT
This image made from video made available by Syrian TV shows U.N. observer team leader Col. Ahmed Himmiche, left, meeting with the governor of Homs, Syria, Saturday, April 21, 2012. Five U.N. truce monitors ventured Saturday into the heart of the Syrian uprising, one of the hardest-hit opposition strongholds, and were thronged by residents clamoring for foreign military help to oust President Bashar Assad. Activists said Homs, which has been battered by tank and mortar shells fired by regime forces for weeks, was relatively calm during the visit, except for the sound of sporadic gunfire, and that troops pulled armored vehicles off the streets.(AP Photo/Syria TV via AP video) TV OUT SYRIA OUT
This image made from video made available by Syrian TV shows United Nations observers during a visit to Homs, Syria, Saturday, April 21, 2012. Five U.N. truce monitors ventured Saturday into the heart of the Syrian uprising, one of the hardest-hit opposition strongholds, and were thronged by residents clamoring for foreign military help to oust President Bashar Assad. Activists said Homs, which has been battered by tank and mortar shells fired by regime forces for weeks, was relatively calm during the visit, except for the sound of sporadic gunfire, and that troops pulled armored vehicles off the streets.(AP Photo/Syria TV via AP video) TV OUT SYRIA OUT

The shelling in Douma highlighted the need for more observers a day after the Security Council voted to expand the number of U.N. observers from 30 to 300 in hopes of salvaging an international truce plan marred by continued fighting between the military and rebels.

An eight-member team is already on the ground in Syria, and since Thursday has visited flashpoints of the 13-month-long conflict. Fighting generally halts temporarily when the observers are present in an area, but there has been a steady stream of reports of violence from towns and regions where they have not yet gone.

"This U.N. observers thing is a big joke," said Douma-based activist Mohammed Saeed. "Shelling stops and tanks are hidden when they visit somewhere, and when they leave, shelling resumes."

His comments reflect a widespread lack of faith among many Syrians in international envoy Kofi Annan's cease-fire plan for ending the violence in Syria and launching talks between President Bashar Assad and those trying to oust him. Syria's opposition and its Western supporters suspect Assad is largely paying lip service to the truce since full compliance — including withdrawing troops and heavy weapons from populated areas and allowing peaceful demonstrations — could quickly sweep him from power.

A previous observer team, dispatched by the Arab League at the start of the year, withdrew after a month after failing to halt the fighting.

The state-run news agency SANA said U.N. monitors visited the central city of Hama Sunday where they met with the governor, while opposition activists said observers visited Rastan, a rebel-held town in central Syria. An amateur video posted online showed two white U.N. vehicles driving in Rastan accompanied by a red pick up truck with the words "Free Army" written on it.

Saeed, the activist, said two people were killed Sunday by indiscriminate firing in Douma, which was the scene of intense clashes between rebels and security forces before the U.N.-brokered cease-fire went into effect more than a week ago.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based opposition group with a network of activists on the ground, confirmed the deaths. It said four soldiers were also killed when a roadside bomb hit an armored personnel carrier in the town later Sunday.

The Observatory also reported that security forces killed three people in the northern province of Idlib and one person in the village of Hteita outside Damascus when troops opened fire from a checkpoint.

It was not immediately clear what prompted the attack on Douma. Saeed said loud explosions that shook the city early Sunday caused panic among residents, some of whom used mosque loudspeakers to urge people to take cover in basements and in lower floors of apartment buildings.

The Security Council approved a resolution Saturday expanding the U.N. observer mission from 30 to 300 members, initially for 90 days. The expanded force is meant to shore up the cease-fire that officially took effect 10 days ago, but has failed to halt the violence that the U.N. says has killed more than 9,000 people since March 2011.

Annan on Sunday welcomed the vote, calling it a "pivotal moment" in the process of stabilizing the country and urged all Syrians to uphold the cease-fire.

"The government in particular must desist from the use of heavy weapons and ... withdraw such weapons and armed units from population centers," he said.

He added that the presence of observers would help create the conditions conducive to launching the much-needed political process and called on the Syrian government and the opposition "to prepare to engage in such a process as a matter of utmost priority."

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon has accused Assad of violating the truce, and said Saturday that "the gross violations of the fundamental rights of the Syrian people must stop at once." Rebel fighters have also kept up attacks.

The official SANA news agency said Sunday that an officer was killed and 42 others wounded in a roadside bomb explosion that targeted their bus Sunday in northern Syria. Two other explosives were dismantled on the spot on the Raqqa-Aleppo highway, SANA said.

The U.N. eight-member advance team has already visited the Damascus suburb of Arbeen, the southern province of Daraa, and the battered opposition stronghold of Homs. The monitors have not visited Douma yet.

Activists said Homs was relatively calm for the second consecutive day Sunday. Five monitors who toured Homs Saturday encountered unusually calm streets after weeks of shelling, and activists said it was the first quiet day in months. Two observers stayed behind in Homs to keep monitoring the city, after the rest of the team left that evening.

Activist Salim Qabani, based in Homs province, said there was none of the heavy shelling of the previous days. But he said a mortar shell landed in the Jouret al-Shayah district that set a home on fire.

Syria keeps tight restrictions on foreign and local media and reports of shelling and casualties cannot be independently confirmed.

___

April 22, 2012 09:11 AM EDT

Copyright 2012, The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Sen. Rubio: Let vice presidential process play out - Wall Street Journal

WASHINGTON — Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has heard all the talk about joining a ticket with likely Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

Rubio says that until now, the talk about picking a running mate has been theoretical. But now that Romney's path is clear, Rubio says "it'd be wise for all Republicans to kind of respect that process, myself included."

The Cuban-American and freshman lawmaker says Romney has made good decisions in his business and political career and "he's going to make a great choice" for a running mate.

Rubio tells CNN's "State of the Union" that he's not going to discuss the search any more. He says the last thing Romney needs is to have "us in the peanut gallery ... saying what we would or would not do."

—Copyright 2012 Associated Press

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