Cairo: The Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Mursi has taken the lead over his rival Ahmed Shafiq in Egypt's presidential polls, according to initial estimates.
Mursi, a conservative Islamist, has secured 51.51 per cent of a tally of 9.554 million votes counted until 3 a.m. (01 a.m. GMT) in Egypt's first ever free presidential election, added the estimates based on counting across the country's 27 governorates.
Shafiq, an ex-army general, has collected 48.49 per cent of those votes, showed the initial results.
Shafiq, who was Hosni Mubarak's last premier, gained the highest votes in Cairo and the two Delta provinces of Dakhalia and Sharqia, while Mursi has taken the lead in the 24 other governorates.
Around 51.6 million of Egypt's 82 million people were eligible to vote in the presidential runoffs, which were held on Saturday and Sunday.
Official results are due to be announced on Thursday.
