CAIRO (AP) — Former President Jimmy Carter says monitors noted violations during Egypt's presidential elections this week, but the vote was acceptable and the irregularities aren't enough to affect the final results.
The Muslim Brotherhood's candidate (Mohammed Morsi) and Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister (Ahmed Shafiq) earned the most votes in the first round and will face each other in a runoff next month.
But the third-place finisher (Hamdeen Sabahi) has demanded a recount. His campaign is claiming it has evidence of electoral violations in "many polling centers" that could change the outcome. But it's not offering details.
The Atlanta-based Carter Center had 102 monitors at polling centers across Egypt for the landmark vote — the first since longtime leader Hosni Mubarak's ouster last year in a mass uprising.
Carter said his group was not able to monitor the entire process because authorities only granted his mission's observers permits a week before the race. The violations witnessed included a lack of privacy for voters and the observers' lack of access to the final vote counting. But he says he doesn't believe the mistakes will taint the runoff.
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GRAPHICSBANK: Ahmed Shafiq, as EGYPT former Prime Minister and presidential candidate, and Mohammed Morsi, as Egypt presidential candidate for the Muslim Brotherhood (l-r), on flag texture, partial graphic (26 May 2012)
APPHOTO XPM106: Former US President Jimmy Carter outlines the initial assessments of the Carter Center's election observation mission during a press conference in Cairo, Egypt on Saturday, May 26, 2012. The Carter Center, which former President Carter founded, monitors elections world wide and deployed 102 observers to Egypt to monitor the Presidential elections that took place on the 23rd and 24th of May. While he expressed satisfaction with the overall order and peacefulness of the elections, he also cited concerns over restrictions placed on the delegation by the Egyptian authorities. (AP Photo/Pete Muller) (26 May 2012)
<<APPHOTO XPM106 (05/26/12)>>
APPHOTO CAI106: Mohammed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood's presidential candidate, is surrounded by reporters in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, May 26, 2012. Results from the first round of voting have shown that the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate Mohammed Morsi and Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister Ahmed Shafiq will face each other in a June 16-17 runoff.(AP Photo/Ahmed Gomaa) (26 May 2012)
<<APPHOTO CAI106 (05/26/12)>>
APPHOTO KH102: Egyptian presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq speaks to the media during a press conference at his office in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, May 26, 2012. Egyptian presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq paid tribute Saturday to the "glorious revolution" that toppled Hosni Mubarak, a dramatic turn-around for the former regime official who fought his way into the runoff elections by appealing to public disenchantment with last year's uprising. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra) (26 May 2012)
<<APPHOTO KH102 (05/26/12)>>
