CAIRO
Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammad Mursi declared his victory in the second round of Egypt's first-ever democratic presidential elections as 97 percent of the ballot boxes have opened.
"I would like to thank all people no matter whom they voted for. Thank God who bestowed us with democracy and freedom. We will walk all together on the path of freedom, development, peace and democracy. We will build a new Egypt together," Mursi told a press conference in Cairo after unofficial results showed that he outpaced his rival Ahmad Shafiq to become the first democratically elected president of the country.
Mursi got 52.3 percent of the votes counted thus far against 47.6 percent for Shafiq, last premier of ousted leader Hosni Mubarak.
Forty-seven percent of Egypt's 51 million registered voters turned out at the ballot boxes in Sunday's election.
