CAIRO: Egypt’s Mohammad Mursi pledged to be a leader “for all Egyptians” and said the revolution will continue, in his first address to the nation after becoming the country’s first Islamist elected president.
 
“I will be a president for all Egyptians,” Mursi said just hours after he was declared president following a deeply divisive race against Ahmad Shafiq, the last premier to serve under ousted president Hosni Mubarak.
 
Mursi’s election closed a tumultuous first phase of a democratic transition and opening a new struggle with the still-dominant military rulers who recently stripped the presidency of most of its powers.
 
In Tahrir Square, the birthplace of the uprising that ousted autocratic President Hosni Mubarak, joyous Mursi supporters wept and kneeled on the ground in prayer as soon as they heard the outcome of the election announced live television. They danced, set off fireworks and released doves in the air with Mursi’s picture attached in celebrations not seen in the square since Mubarak was forced out on Feb. 11, 2011.
 
Many are looking now to see whether Mursi will try to take on the military and wrestle back the powers they took from his office just one week ago. Thousands vowed to remain in Tahrir to demand that the ruling generals reverse their decision.
 
In his address, Mursi said the revolution would continue, “until all its demands are met.” The Muslim Brotherhood earlier vowed to persist with a sit-in at Cairo’s Tahrir Square to protest a military decree that allows it sweeping powers, Brotherhood official Mohammad al-Beltagui said.
 
Mursi called for unity and said he carries “a message of peace” to the world, paying tribute to nearly 900 protesters killed in last year’s uprising, saying without the “blood of the martyrs,” he would not have made it to the presidency. He said he would preserve international agreements, a reference to the 1979 peace accord with Israel.
 
The White House sent cautious congratulations to Mursi, urging him to advance national unity as he forms a new government. White House press secretary Jay Carney said Mursi’s victory is a milestone in Egypt’s transition to democracy after decades of authoritarian rule under Mubarak. The Obama administration had expressed no public preference in the presidential race.
 
In Lebanon, Prime Minister, Najib Mikati contacted Sunday evening the newly elected Egyptian president to congratulate him on his victory, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency.
 
French President Francois Hollande also congratulated Mursi and said he was ready to work with him.
 
“It is important that the transition which began in February 2011 continue so that, in line with the commitments made, a democratic and pluralist political system can be established in Egypt as well as the rule of law which guarantees the civil and political liberties of all citizens and minorities,” Hollande’s office said in a statement.
 
Left on the sidelines of the political drama are the liberal and secular youth groups that drove the uprising against Mubarak, left to wonder whether Egypt has taken a step toward becoming an Islamist state. Some grudgingly supported Mursi in the face of Ahmad Shafiq, Mubarak’s last prime minister, while others boycotted the vote. Mursi will now have to reassure them that he represents the whole country, not just Islamists, and will face enormous challenges after security and the economy badly deteriorated in the transition period.
 
The caretaker pope of Egypt’s Coptic Church, Bishop Pachomius, congratulated Mursi on winning, the state television reported, with a brief statement.
 
The elections left the nation deeply polarized with one side backing Shafiq, who promised to provide stability and prevent Egypt from becoming a theocracy. Because of his military career, many saw him as the military’s preferred candidate.
 
In the other camp are those eager for democratic change and backers of Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood who were persecuted, jailed and banned under Mubarak but now find themselves one of the two most powerful groups in Egypt.
 
The other power center is the ruling military council that took power after the uprising and is headed by Mubarak’s defense minister of 20 years.
 
Just one week ago, at the moment polls were closing in the presidential runoff, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) issued constitutional amendments that stripped the president’s office of most of its major powers. The ruling generals made themselves the final arbiters over the most pressing issues still complicating the transition – such as writing the constitution, legislating, passing the state budget – and granted military police broad powers to detain civilians.
 
“I am happy the Brotherhood won because now the revolution will continue on the street against both of them, the Brotherhood and the SCAF,” said Lobna Darwish, an activist who has boycotted the elections.
 
Also, a few days before that constitutional declaration, a court dissolved the freely elected parliament, which is dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood, leaving the military now in charge of legislating.
 
Brotherhood members and experts said the results were used as a bargaining chip between the generals and the Brotherhood over the parameters of what appears to be a new power-sharing agreement. The country’s new constitution is not written and the authorities of the president are not clear.
 
This is the first time modern Egypt will be headed by an Islamist and by a freely elected civilian. The country’s last four presidents over the past six decades have all came from the ranks of the military.
 
The results of the elections were delayed for four days amid accusations of manipulation and foul play by both sides, raising political tensions in Egypt to a fever pitch.
 
Parallel mass rallies by Shafiq and Mursi supporters were held in different parts of Cairo and cut-throat media attacks by supporters of both swarmed TV shows. In the hours before the announcement of the winner, the fear of new violence was palpable.
 
Heavy security was deployed around the country, especially outside state institutions, in anticipation of possible violence. Workers were sent home early from jobs, jewelry stores closed for fear of looting and many were stocking up on food and forming long lines at cash machines in case new troubles began.
 
Mursi, the 60-year old U.S.-trained engineer, narrowly defeated Shafiq with 51.7 percent of the vote versus 48.3, by a margin of only 800,000 votes, the election commission said. Turnout was 51 percent.
 
Farouk Sultan, the head of the commission, described the elections as “an important phase in the end of building our nascent democratic experience.”
 
Sultan went to pains to explain that more than 400 complaints presented by the two candidates challenging counting procedures and alleging attempts of rigging. It appeared to be an attempt to discredit claims that the election commission was biased in favor of Shafiq, the candidate perceived as backed by the military rulers.
 
The country is deeply divided between supporters of the Brotherhood, liberals and leftists who also decided to back them as a way to stand up to the military, and other secular forces that fear the domination of the Brotherhood, and grew critical of it in the past year. The small margin of victory for Mursi also sets him for a strong opposition from supporters of Shafiq, viewed as a representative of the old regime.