Elections
In May 2012, presidential elections were held and Morsi was victorious with almost 25 percent of the vote in the presidential election’s first round. This was more than any other candidate. By assuring Egyptian voters that he would not govern as a theocrat, Morsi narrowly beat Ahmed Shafiq, the prime minister under Hosni Mubarak, in a runoff round the following month. With almost 52 percent of the vote, Morsi took office on June 30 2012.
Schooling
A more advanced education was hard to come by in his village, but his father insisted on Morsi having the best education possible so that Morsi could lead a good life. Morsi excelled in primary and secondary school and soon started attending classes at Cairo University. His time there was well spent, earning him a bachelor and master degree in engineering. His education took him to Los Angeles, where he attended the University of Southern California in 1982. Attending on a scholarship, he earned a doctrate. Morsi became an assistant professor at California State University, Northridge for three years. He soon returned home with his wife and children to head the engineering department at Egypt’s Zagazig University, near his hometown.
Political
At the age of 25, Morsi joined the Egyptian military, where he served in the chemical warfare department. Morsi developed an interest in the realm of politics and joined the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group often critizied by the Egyptian government, while he was studying in the United States. Morsi quickly rose within the Brotherhood ranks, becoming a member of its powerful Guidance Bureau in 1994. In 2000, he was elected to parliament as an independent candidate because the Brotherhood was officially banned by the government. After the election he took the role of spokesperson for the group within parliament. While atteding a demonstration which was supporting judges who were demanding judicial independence, Morsi and several others were jailed for seven months. After Egypt's president, Hosni Mubarak, was overthrown, the Muslim Brotherhood founded the Freedom and Justice Party as its political wing. The party initially chose Khairat el-Shater to run as its candidate in presidential elections, but he was disqualified for unknown reasons. Morsi was then chosen as a replacement for el-Shater. This caused some to refer to him as the Brotherhood’s "spare tire" candidate.
Early Years
Mohamed Morsi was born in 1951 in the village of El-Adwa in the Nile Delta in the Al-Sharqiya governorate in northern Egypt. He was the oldest of 5 sons, his father was a farmer, and his mother managed the house.