Brotherhood and generals in Egyptian power struggle

Egypt’s agonised passage from revolution to democracy was in limbo last night as the Muslim Brotherhood claimed victory in a presidential election while the generals who took over from Hosni Mubarak decreed it was they who would keep most power.

The former air force commander running against the Islamist dismissed Mohammed Morsy’s self-declared triumph as a bid to “hijack” the election. Ahmed Shafik, who was also Mubarak’s last prime minister, said it was he in fact who was ahead.

As a day of counting, and mutual jibes over violations, wore on, there was no official word on how the two-day run-off went and electoral supervisors warned they may not publish any result until Thursday — prolonging what for many Egyptians has become a wearisome deadlock between a military past and religious future.