Egypt's Election Commission says it has delayed Thursday's planned announcement of the results of a runoff presidential vote while it continues to review appeals from the two candidates, hiking tension as allegations of fraud mounted.
The commission said Wednesday that judges are still looking into some 400 complaints of alleged campaign violations and disputed vote counting submitted by Mohammed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood candidate, and his rival, former prime minister Ahmed Shafiq.
No new date to announce a winner was given.
On top of the potentially explosive election dispute looms renewed uncertainty over the latest health scare of 84-year-old former President Hosni Mubarak.
The state news agency reported that Mubarak was near death and put on a respirator after suffering a stroke. He was transferred to a military hospital from the Cairo prison hospital.
Security officials said Wednesday the ousted leader was in a coma and off life support and that his heart and other vital organs were functioning. A later report in The New York Times quoted a lawyer for the ex-leader as saying Mubarak had only fallen down in the prison bathroom.