The Muslim Brotherhood declares its candidate, Mohamed Morsi, has won Egypt’s presidential run-off. The victory over Mubarak’s former prime minister, Ahmed Shafiq, is claimed ahead of the official announcement of the ballot results on Thursday.

­The party claims to have won 52.5 per cent of votes cast, based on a count of 97.6 per cent of the country’s 13,100 polling stations. Khaled Qazzaz, a Muslim Brotherhood official, said Shafik had 47.5 per cent of the votes counted.

"There is no way Shafik can win," Qazzaz said, speaking at the headquarters of the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party. The party’s website says it will shortly announce "the first statement of the first elected Egyptian president."