e. That left Morsi (who hadn't even been his own party's first choice for the presidency) the winner by the barest of majorities over his opponent, Shafiq, who was widely viewed as the military's favored candidate and a relic of Hosni Mubarak's ousted dictatorship. The worst of it is this: no matter

researcher with Human Rights Watch, said Sunday night. "It was a soft coup to start with, but now it's pretty blatant." Trading fraud allegations Shafiq's campaign issued a statement Sunday accusing the Brotherhood of "systemic" fraud, including ballot stuffing, voter bribing, voter intimidation and

Mubarak old guard. Even now the contest is plagued by uncertainty. As we went to press, the supreme court was due to rule on whether to exclude Mr Shafiq from the run-off because of his role in the old regime. Such a chaotic debut for democracy would tempt ordinary Egyptians to pine for the brutal ce

. That left Morsi (who hadn't even been his own party's first choice for the presidency) the winner by the barest of majorities over his opponent, Shafiq, who was widely viewed as the military's favored candidate and a relic of Hosni Mubarak's ousted dictatorship. The worst of it is this: no matter