Vote counts for Egypt\'s presidential elections

After Egypt\'s historic presidential poll, vote counting is now underway countrywide. Follow Ahram Online\'s live coverage of the count as it unfolds 3:18 A top judicial source tells Al-Ahram\'s Arabic-language news website that 1,750 out of more than 13,000 polling stations have returned the following results: Mursi 1,000,000+ Shafiq 740,000 Abul-Fotouh 690,000 Sabbahi 545,000 Mousa 480,000 3:09 Is there something in the water? Two of Egypt\'s seaside governorates appear to be going against the tide, plumping for Sabbahi over Mursi. Results from 43 out of 104 polling stations in the governorate of Port Said, according to Al-Ahram\'s Arabic-language news website: Sabbahi 37,315 (37.5 per cent) Shafiq 18,267 (18.3 per cent) Moussa 16,641 (16.7 per cent) Mursi 14,155 (14.2 per cent) Abul-Fotouh 12,944 (13 per cent) 3:05 Ahram Online\'s news team aren\'t the only ones burning the midnight oil. Put on your kettles, because this is shaping up to be a long night. Egypt\'s Twitter users are seemingly hopped up on caffeine, as they weigh in on Mursi\'s initial wave of good fortune. Here\'s a taster: Khaled Elgindy tweets: Morsy-Shafiq run-off is the battle MB has been waiting for. Morsy-AbulFotouh run-off is the battle MB desperately wants to avoid. Mosa\'ab Elshamy tweets: Not blaming Copts for Shafik\'s rise but two Qs: 1. Why not a non-Islamist Sabahi? 2. Didn\'t the \"secular\", military man Mubarak oppress you? su zee tweets: Dear Egyptians freaking out on twitter, calm down. Remind urself: u survived Mubarak. U made a revolution. U can survive the next president. And our very own Hani Shukrallah tweets: Look at it this way: If Mursi wins MBs will be finished in 2 yeas; if Shafiq wins, Mubarak regime will be finished by next Jan. After Egypt\'s historic presidential poll, vote counting is now underway countrywide. Follow Ahram Online\'s live coverage of the count as it unfolds 2:49 Results from 184 out of 201 polling stations in the governorate of Ismailia, according to Al-Ahram\'s Arabic-language news website: Mursi 83,358 (26.8 per cent) Sabbahi 62,157 (20 per cent) Moussa 58,921 (18.9 per cent) Abul-Fotouh 52,891 (17 per cent) Shafiq 46,394 (14.9 per cent) 2:16 Results from 38 out of 238 polling stations in the governorate of Damietta, according to Al-Ahram\'s Arabic-language news website: Mursi 13,107 Abul-Fotouh 12,967 Sabbahi 12,633 Mousa 8,098 Shafiq 7,845 2:03 More results from the governorate of Ismailia culled from 92 out of 201 polling stations, according to Al-Ahram\'s Arabic-language news website: Mursi 38,541 Sabbahi 27,011 Moussa 26,884 Abul-Fotouh 22,284 Shafiq 19,222 1:54 Results from 68 polling stations out of a total of 552 in the governorate of Assuit, according to Al-Ahram\'s Arabic-language news website: Mursi 24,600 (32.5 per cent) Shafiq 23,435 (31 per cent) Abul-Fotouh 17,267 (22.8 per cent) Sabbahi 5,841 (7.7 per cent) Moussa 4,356 (5.7 per cent) 1:38 Results from 678 polling stations, according to the Freedom and Justice Party: Mursi 165,874 (35.5 per cent) Shafiq 103,648 (22.2 per cent) Abul-Fotouh 77,947 (16.7 per cent) Sabbahi 53,941   (11.5 per cent) Moussa 53,181   (11.4 per cent) 1:34 Results from seven polling stations in the Beheira Governorate\'s Itay Al-Baroud constituency, according to Al-Ahram\'s Arabic-language news website: Mursi 25,736 Shafiq 21,397 Abul-Fotouh 16,437 Moussa 12,818 Sabbahi 8,328 01:04 The Freedom and Justice Party have released voting results from 236 polling stations across 16 governorates, showing their contender well in the lead. Mursi 55,698 Shafiq  33,139 Abul-Fotouh 24,882 Moussa 16,913 Sabbahi 12,460 The total number of polling stations in Egypt is 13,000. 12:25 The results of 18 polling stations out of 81 in the governorate of Marsa Matrouh: Abul-Fotouh 3,660 Mursi 1,039 Moussa 845 Shafiq, Sabbahi (both below 700) 12:24 The results of 16 polling stations out of 691 in the governorate of Alexandria, according to the Salafist Nour Party\'s operating room: Sabbahi 8,706 Abul-Fotouh  7,185 Mursi 6,092 Shafiq 3,271 Moussa 3,086 12:19 The results of 38 polling stations out of 201 in Ismailia governorate: Mursi 14,591 Sabbahi 9,508 Moussa 9,380 Abul-Fotouh  8,550 Shafiq 6,983 12:09 Mursi receives 39 votes out of a total 3,465 in polling station no 4 in Zamalek, reports Ahram Online\'s correspondent Osman El-Sharnoubi. Moussa came first with 1,086 votes followed by Shafiq with 787; Sabbahi with 625; Abul-Fotouh with 467. 12:01 Mursi is enjoying a comfortable lead in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Sohag after 51 polling stations finished tallying their votes. Mursi gathered 12,209 votes, while Abul-Fotouh trailed with 6,820 votes. Shafiq came in at a close third with 6,330 votes; Moussa fourth with 5,106; and Sabbahi fifth with 1,588. 23:57 El-Erian states that Mursi\'s presidential programme, entitled the \'Renaissance Project\', will be set into motion in a few days. Using typically grandiose rhetoric, the leading Brotherhood member states Egypt now stands on the cusp of a new era. \"These elections are being followed not only by Egyptians and Arabs, but the entire world is waiting with baited breath for the results,\" El-Erian states. \"Egyptians have proved that they are capable of forging a new history for their country.\" Sounding assured the medical doctor asserts, \"We are confident that Egypt\'s next president will be Mohamed Mursi.\" 23:45 El-Erian states that only 250 polling stations – representing 2 per cent of the total – have completed tallying the votes, adding that their man, Mursi, is in the lead. 23:37 The Brotherhood\'s Freedom and Justice Party announce in a press conference that the countrywide voter turnout was 50 per cent. The party thanked the Egyptian people, who voted freely for the first time in history. Mursi is leading the vote count across the country, according to the their spokesman, who adds that a preliminary vote tally will be announced after a few words by well-known party member Essam El-Erian, vice president of the FJP. 23:34 More preliminary results for those eager eyes: Hamdeen Sabbahi finished first in Al-Semad polling station in the Red Sea governorate of Suez, earning 496 votes. Mursi follows, while Moussa trails in third. In Al-Horreya polling station, Sabbahi also finished first, gaining 811 votes, followed by Abul Fotouh and Moussa. 23:18 Dozens of polling stations across the country have begun to submit their results to their district\'s general electoral committee. As the results begin to trickle in, it is too early to make any sweeping conclusions, however Brotherhood candidate Mursi appears to have a slight lead over rivals Abul-Fotouh, Shafiq, Moussa and Sabbahi. Al Jazeera Mubashir reports that Shafiq leads in two polling stations in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Sohag, while Al-Ahram\'s Arabic news website reports that Mursi is leading in two polling stations in the governorates of Beheira and Sohag. Our correspondent Lina El-Wardani, reporting from Alexandria, reports that Nasserist candidate Sabbahi has a substantial lead in two polling stations. 23:12 Voter turnout in the Delta governorate of Gharbeya reached 40 per cent in the two-day electoral process, El-Sayed Abdel-Moati, the governorate\'s secretary-general stated Thursday evening. Boasting 2.9 million registered voters, Gharbeya is one of Egypt\'s larger governorates. 23:09 Across Egypt\'s 13,000 polling stations, vote counting is underway. Here is a quick rundown of how the counting process will proceed: After the electoral sub-committees, which are operating out of each polling station, finish the vote count, the station\'s presiding judge will announce the results to a representative from each of the eleven presidential campaigns. The representative must then sign off on the final tally before the judge transmits the results to each district\'s general electoral committee. The aggregated results will then be sent to the Supreme Presidential Electoral Commission. 22:57 According to the Muslim Brotherhood\'s website, Ikhwanweb, Mohamed Mursi\'s campaign will hold a press conference shortly to announce preliminary results of the vote count. 22:33 The Salafist Al-Nour Party has announced that it will not recognise results coming from polling stations where vote counting was carried out in the absence of campaign representative. The party, which officially backed presidential hopeful Abdel-Moneim Abul-Fotouh, warned in a statement Thursday night against any manipulation of the vote count. The statement added that the party would take all legal and \"popular\" (demonstrations, etc) measures to thwart any attempt to manipulate the public will. 22:19 Osman Sharnoubi, reporting from the upscale district of Zamalek in Cairo, has sent us the following update: \"The counting process is going smoothly in Zamalek\'s busiest polling station. Amr Moussa and Ahmed Shafiq seem to be leading so far. Islamists are way behind, including the Muslim Brotherhood.\" 10:07 Our correspondent Lina El-Wardani, reporting from the Ras El-Teen polling station (5,116 votes), reports that Nasserist candidate Hamdeen Sabbahi appears to be ahead in the district. All 13,000 polling stations in Egypt are shutting their doors after two days of voting in Egypt\'s first genuine multi-candidate presidential elections. Earlier on Thursday, the electoral commission extended voting hours until 9pm. While some stations have already begun counting votes, others are still waiting until all remaining voters have cast their ballots. Military and police are on high alert to safeguard the ballot boxes throughout the counting process.  The primary vote count will be performed by the electoral sub-committees inside the polling stations. Each sub-committee will inform the candidates\' campaign offices of the total number of votes cast in their favour. From Ahram online