Four Egyptians reportedly killed in protest against 'illegitimate' poll

Four people were killed late Friday when security forces dispersed a rally staged by supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi in eastern Cairo, a source in the pro-Morsi National Alliance for the Defense of Legitimacy told Anadolu Agency.

The four, including two women, were killed when policemen used live bullets to disperse the rally in Ain Shams district, the source said.

Several protesters were reportedly injured in the dispersal, according to the source. Security officials could not be reached for comment.

Morsi's supporters staged a fresh round of rallies on Friday to protest the results of Egypt's presidential election, which showed an overwhelming victory for former army chief Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi.

The Muslim Brotherhood, the movement from which Morsi hails, and supporters of the ousted president had largely boycotted the vote, saying that it is "illegitimate" while also questioning the accuracy of the official turnout figures.

The presidential election was the second step in an army-imposed roadmap for Egypt's political transition following the July military coup that overthrew Morsi.

State television reported Thursday that 96 of voters, at least 21 million Egyptians, chose Sisi.

Sisi's only rival, leftist Hamdeen Sabbahi, won less than four percent, according to the preliminary results.

Sabbahi conceded defeat Thursday but cast doubt on the estimated turnout of 47 percent after calls for a high participation rate as a sign of legitimacy.

Egypt's military reasserts grip

Sisi, who retired from the army to run for office, becomes Egypt's fifth president from the military, reasserting the institution's grip on politics in the Arab world's most populous nation.

The military has always formed the backbone of political life in Egypt and the institution has provided its leaders ever since army officers toppled the monarchy in 1952.

The only exception was Morsi, elected a year after the fall of former air force commander Mubarak.

"Few would have imagined that... three years after Mubarak's toppling, a field marshall, a new pharaoh, would be elected again with 96 percent, without even unveiling a programme and without campaigning," said analyst Karim Bitar.

But his opponents say that since he ousted Morsi last July, Egypt returned to autocracy.

A state crackdown targeting Morsi supporters has left at least 1,400 people dead in street clashes and seen more than 15,000 others jailed.

Dozens of young activists have also been jailed for violating a law banning all but police-authorised protests.

Amid the crackdown on dissent condemned by rights groups many governments, the military-installed authorities had aimed for a high turnout as a sign of legitimacy.

Private and state-run media pressed Egyptians to go out and vote, and the election was extended for a third day in a last-minute decision which sparked protests.

Opposition hails boycott

Sisi had called for at least 40 million of Egypt's almost 54 million electorate to go to the polling stations.

Authorities put actual turnout at about 25 million, or 47 percent, down from 52 percent when Morsi was elected in 2012.

"Ultimately, we have no real way to verify (government) turnout numbers" or Sisi's victory margin, Shadi Hamid of the Brookings Institution's Saban Center wrote on Twitter.

He pointed to the absence of "parallel counts and not enough (international) monitors."

Egyptian authorities are touting the election as a milestone on the road to democracy following Morsi's ouster, but Human Rights Watch says the crackdown "stripped these elections of real meaning".

"The intense crackdown on dissent over the last 10 months has created a repressive environment that severely undermines the fairness of the elections," it said.

The Muslim Brotherhood hailed what it sees as a successful boycott.

"The great Egyptian people have given a new slap to the military coup's roadmap and... written the death certificate of the military coup," said its political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party.

All of the movement's main leaders are now in jail or exile, and Morsi himself is being tried on charges that could carry the death penalty.

Prominent activists behind the uprising that ousted Mubarak three years ago had also called for a boycott, charging that Sisi is an even worse autocrat in the making.