Maher Abbas Saudi Gazette RIYADH – The Egyptian community in the Kingdom rejoiced when their nerve-wracking wait for results of the country's first ever free presidential polls ended Sunday afternoon with Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammad Mursi winning the popular mandate to run the Arab world's most populous state. Egyptians in the Kingdom had overwhelmingly voted for Mursi in the runoff, according to results announced last Monday. Mursi had won nearly 90 percent of the votes cast in the Kingdom against less than 10 percent for Ahmed Shafiq, the last premier under ousted President Hosni Mubarak. Over a million Egyptians in Saudi Arabia with millions of fellow Arabs remained glued to their television screens whole Sunday afternoon anxiously waiting for the historic announcement, which had the fate of the country hanging in balance. Telephones rang incessantly with Egyptians working abroad seeking whatever information they could gather from friends and relatives back home. Rumors of a Shafiq victory were leaked out on social networking sites early Sunday, but they were quickly rebutted by the Mursi camp. The mood remained tense as people left for work in the morning. Discussions in office corridors and on social media were centered on possible scenarios in case of either candidate clinching the presidency. Even for people of other nationalities, including Saudis, the hot topic in work places was the outcome of the Egyptian presidential run-off. Everyone was keen to discover the direction the Arab Spring revolution was now taking. By late after afternoon an uneasy calm settled on Mursi supporters in Riyadh. Many of them returned home after Asr prayers in time to watch the election commission's press conference on satellite channels. Even Egyptian housewives joined the debate. One woman told her female friend, a Mursi supporter, that she would go to Makkah over the weekend to perform Umrah if Shafiq won. The other woman retorted that she would do the same. Adel Hanafi, a social activist in the Egyptian community, made a record number of 140 telephone calls to Egypt Sunday. Hani Aziz of the Shafiq campaign said he had received over 300 telephone calls from his friends in Saudi Arabia as they were waiting for Farouq Sultan, chairman of the election committee, to announce the results on TV. Muhammad Al-Jundi, an Egyptian accountant in Riyadh, said he did not sleep or talk to anyone since Friday, but was continuously watching television for clues on the election results. He said it was a long wait laced with anxiety, especially with rival camps claiming victory. Wearied by the irritating wait in front television sets, Imam Yusuf, president of the Egyptians Overseas Federation's Saudi branch, said he thought it would have been better had he left for Egypt to monitor the situation on the ground by himself. Furthermore, he said he was totally confused by contradictory reports he had received from various circles. Dr. Hassan Al-Jarrahi said he had made the biggest number of calls to Egypt in the last fortnight since the beginning of his 30-year-long stay in the Kingdom. He said his friends in Port Said and Cairo had reassured him about the direction of the voting process. Al-Jarrahi said his most memorable moment was when Mursi himself claimed victory well before the announcement of the official results.
