Mubarak’s last premier and Muslim Brotherhood candidate in poll run-off

Commission chief Farouq Sultan said the Brotherhood’s Mohammed Morsi and Ahmed Shafiq, a former air force commander and a long-time friend of the ousted leader, were the top two finishers in the first round of voting held on May 23 and 24. Mr Morsi won 5.76 million votes, while Mr Shafiq garnered 5.5 million. Finishing a close third was leftist candidate Hamdeen Sabahi with 4.82 million votes.

Mr Sultan said his commission received a total of seven appeals, and rejected all of them – four because they had no legal basis, while the other three were not accepted because they were submitted after the deadline.

Mr Morsi and Mr Shafiq have been the most polarising of the 13 candidates who contested the first round, setting the stage for a fiercely contested run-off on June 16 and 17.

Already, both men have begun reaching out to a broad spectrum of political and demographic groups who did not support them in the first round, or nearly half of the 25 millions who voted.

About 50 million of Egypt’s estimated 82 million people are eligible voters.