An annex in Shafiq’s headquarters in Cairo went up in flames late on Monday, hours after election officials announced the official results of the first round of the presidential vote on Monday, according to Al Arabiya.

A police official said eight suspects were arrested near the headquarters, a villa located in the middle class Dokki neighborhood, AFP reported.  But there were no abrupt reports of injuries and firefighters said the fire was quickly put under control.

Earlier thousands of  protesters had gathered in Cairo’s central Tahrir Square to  protest the results of the first round presidential vote.

In announcing the results on Monday, Faruq Sultan, election commission chief, said that “No candidate had won an outright majority, so according to Article 40 of the presidential election law, there will be a runoff between Mohammed Morsi and Ahmed Shafiq, ” Al Jazeera reported.

The results have split the nation, which now will have to choose between a Islamic conservative and a figure symbolizing the old hated Mubarak regime.

Candidate Hamdeen Sabahy came third with 20.7 percent, while moderate Islamist Abdel Moneim Abul Fotouh follwed with 17.4 percent and  former foreign minister Amr Mussa was fifth with 11.1 percent.

Military rule is due to end when the military hands in power to the new president on July 1. Egyptians went to the polls on May 23 and 24 in the country’s first free presidential election made possible by the 2011 uprising. The two finalists of the first round are set to compete in a runoff on 16 and 17 June.

“We will present an appeal on behalf of candidate Hamdeen Sabahy … to the presidential electoral committee, citing a series of irregularities … that have affected the outcome of the first round,” lawyer Essam el-Islamboly told Reuters.

Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Mursi is due to face-off against Shafik next month, after  Egyptian state television, preliminary results showed Sabahy in third place behind Shafiq and the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi after this week’s first round. Only the top two go through to a run-off in June.

 votes were still being counted, while final results are not due before Tuesday.

Earlier thousands of Egyptians reacted heatedly to the results with hundreds taking to Tahrir Square to condemn the choice between the candidates.

Islamboly said the appeal, to be lodged on Sunday or Monday at the latest, would ask the electoral committee to suspend the election until the prosecutor-general checks a claim by a police officer that the Interior Ministry had illegally assigned 900,000 votes to Shafiq, Al Arabiya reported. 

He said Sabahy also wanted the election stopped until the constitutional court rules on the validity of an April decision by the electoral committee to disqualify Shafiq.

 The committee swiftly lifted its ban on Shafiq, who was deposed leader Hosni Mubarak’s last prime minister, but referred a new law barring top Mubarak-era officials from the race to the constitutional court, according to Al Arabiya.

On Friday, the Brotherhood stated it was trying to create a coalition of forces to challenge Shafiq. 

“We call on all sincere political and national forces to unite to protect the revolution and to achieve the pledges we took before our great nation,” the Brotherhood said.

“The slogan now is: ‘the nation is in danger,’” Essam al-Erian, the deputy head of the Brotherhood’s political arm, told AFP.

Shafiq also called for broad support calling on his competitors by name to join him, as he vowed there would be no return to the old regime.