The Muslim Brotherhood declared early 18 June 2012, that its candidate, Mohamed Morsi, won Egypt's presidential election, which would be the first victory of an Islamist as head of state in the Arab world.

Morsi won by a narrow margin over Ahmed Shafik, the final prime minister under deposed President Hosni Mubarak.

[8] The Supreme Presidential Electoral Commission (SPEC) was expected to release the list of candidates who fulfil the legal requirements and are eligible for the presidency on 26 April.

[9] On 14 April 2012, the Supreme Presidential Electoral Commission (SPEC) announced the disqualification of ten candidates: Omar Suleiman, Khairat El-Shater, Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, Ayman Nour, Ahmad Awad Al-Saidi, Mortada Mansour, Ibrahim El-Gharib, Mamdouh Qutb, Houssam Khayrat, and Ashraf Barouma.

[14] The new law stipulated that any individual who served as President of the Republic, vice president, prime minister, or a high-ranking NDP official during the ten years prior to 11 February 2011 (day of Hosni Mubarak's resignation) would not be eligible to run or hold public office for ten years, effective 11 February 2011.

[15] The law disqualified presidential hopefuls Ahmed Shafik (prime minister) and Omar Suleiman (vice-president), but did not exclude Amr Mussa.

[16] On 25 April the Supreme Presidential Electoral Commission (SPEC) accepted the appeal filed by Ahmed Shafik against its previous decision to exclude him from running for president.

As a replacement, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt fielded Mohamed Morsi, chairman of the Freedom and Justice Party, he faced Ahmed Shafik in a run-off vote on 16–17 June 2012.

Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, a doctor by practice and a former Muslim Brotherhood figure popular with Egyptian youths, declared his candidacy in May 2011.

[30] Despite coming from the moderate-to-liberal wing of the Islamist movement, Aboul Fotouh won the endorsement of the Salafi Al-Nour Party on 28 April 2012.

Ali is a prominent Egyptian lawyer and activist, known for his work advocating reform of corruption in the government and private sector and his promotion of social justice and labor rights.

[34] Critics argued that he was unlikely to win, and expressed concern that he could split the vote in a way that would sway the election towards representatives of the prior regime.

[37] The fact that Al-Awa and Aboul Fotouh belong to the same school of thought have led to press speculation about vote-splitting and the possibility of their uniting behind a single candidate.

[43] They said the authorities had "trampled over even the minimum requirements for free and fair elections", stifling basic freedoms and eliminating key challengers.

[53] On 11 April, the State Council decided that the Ministry of Interior is obliged to provide documents verifying the nationality of the candidate's mother.

[60] After initially deciding not to field a candidate, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt announced on 31 March 2012 that its deputy supreme guide Khairat El-Shater would run in the election.

[61][62] El-Shater, who was convicted and imprisoned for several years during the rule of Mubarak, might be excluded from the race due to the ban of ex-convicts from political activity.

[63] The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt fielded Mohamed Morsi, chairman of the Freedom and Justice Party, as an alternative candidate in case El-Shater's candidacy was invalidated.

In November 2009 amidst the political controversy over the then prospective 2011 presidential election and the constitutional impediments placed in the faces of candidates under the amended Article 76 in the 2007 constitution and amidst speculation about then-president Hosni Mubarak's son Gamal running for the post, Mohamed ElBaradei decided to respond to the continuous pressing from people who asked him to run for the 2011 election.

[65][66][67] ElBaradei said in a statement sent from his office in Vienna to Al-Shorouk newspaper that "He did not announce willingness or unwillingness to participate in the upcoming presidential election... and that he will clear his position on the presidency after November".

The movement aims for general reforms in the political scene and mainly burke the Constitutional article#76 which places restrictions on true free presidential elections especially when it comes to independent candidates.

[70] On 14 January 2012, he withdrew his candidacy in protest against the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces' alleged usurpation of power as he criticised the roadmap of transition to a civilian government following the 2011 revolution.

[76] Al-Sughayar headed to the High Presidential Elections Commission (HPEC) on Tuesday to collect the official application documents and learn of the requirements for running for presidency.

Upon his visit to the HPEC, the pop star said that he has collected 30,000 recommendations, which were declined due to his failure to fill in required documents prior the submission, reported the Middle East News Agency.

He added that he pulled this stunt to show the government and the SCAF that the criteria of 30,000 signatures is not a true obstacle to prevent non-serious candidates.

Other potential presidents, Ahmed Zewill (13%) & Ayman Nour, Mubarak's 2005 Presidential rival (1%), trailed Moussa by a huge margin.

[3] Egypt's benchmark stock index celebrated Morsi's election by closing up 7.6 percent, its largest single-day gain in nine years.

Allegations have arisen that the interior ministry handed out over 900,000 ID cards to Egyptian soldiers so that they could vote for Shafik in the first round, which would be a major campaign violation.

[127] In August 2013, former Israeli negotiator Yossi Beilin wrote that an Egyptian official had told him that the true results had Shafik winning, but the military gave the presidency to Morsi out of fear of unrest.

[128][129] Shortly after it became apparent that Morsi would win the election, SCAF made the following changes to the 30 March 2011 Egypt Constitutional Declaration in order to define the powers of the new president: - Article 30: In situation that parliament is dissolved the president will be vowed into office in front of High Constitutional Court's General Assembly.