CAIRO, Egypt — The new Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi moved first thing Monday morning into the office once occupied by his ousted predecessor Hosni Mubarak and started work on forming a government even before he had a clear picture of what he could do after the ruling military stripped most of the major powers from his post.
The country breathed a sigh of relief that at least the question of who won the presidential runoff had been resolved on Sunday after the first free and fair elections in Egypt’s modern history.
People returned to work a day after a panic that sent many home early for fear that violence might break out when the winner was announced. Traffic was flowing again through Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the birthplace of last year’s uprising and a major intersection that had been blocked for nearly a week by Morsi supporters protesting against the military’s power grab.
Morsi, from the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood group, is the first Islamist president of Egypt. He defeated Mubarak’s last prime minister, Ahmed Shafiq, in a tight race that deeply polarized the nation.
Read tomorrow's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
Thank you for coming to the website of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. We're working to keep you informed with the latest breaking news.