Following his loss in the election, former presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq said he accepts the result of the vote as announced by the Presidential Elections Commission, thanking the judiciary and the Armed Forces for administering this historic vote.
“I congratulate Mohamed Morsy, the elected Egyptian president, wishing him success in his difficult mission.”
Shafiq, who got 48.3 percent of the vote, called on Morsy to be a president for all Egyptians, saying that he and those that voted for him expect Morsy to be a president for all Egyptians.
“We trust that nobody will be marginalized and that there will be no settlement of scores. I respect the opinion of the majority and appreciate everyone who supported me. I thank them one by one,” he said.
Shafiq said that he was subjected to smear campaigns and suffered hardships at the personal level since he relinquished his position as prime minister.
Former President Hosni Mubarak appointed Shafiq prime minister before the he stepped down in February 2011. Popular protests forced Shafiq to resign less than a month after his appointment.
Shafiq left for Abu Dhabi early on Tuesday, arriving at Cairo International Airport 15 minutes before the departure of his plane, MENA reported. He plans to head to Saudi Arabia afterward to perform the Umra pilgrimage, his presidential campaign said on Facebook.
The campaign said Shafiq met Monday evening with a legal team in preparation for declaring the establishment of a political party that it said would represent the more than 12 million voters who chose him in the runoff election last weekend.
The online portal for the liberal Wafd Party’s paper said Shafiq’s three daughters accompanied him on his trip, while MENA reported he traveled alone. Shafiq’s wife died in April following a battle with illness.
Wafd also reported that employees from the Public Relations department sent him off as others gathered around him in protest, accusing him of stealing public money.
Wafd added that Shafiq was transported to the plane in a private car while his daughters arrived on a shuttle bus.
