CAIRO - The verdicts issued on Saturday for Egypt's former president Hosni Mubarak, his two sons, ex-interior minister Habib Adli and six others are very likely to lead to a regrouping of voters for the two candidates in the presidential run-off slated for later this month.

Mubarak and Adli were given life terms, while his two sons Alaa and Gamal, six aides of Adli were acquitted, announced Ahmed Refaat, presiding judge of the Cairo Criminal Court.

The sentences were handed down as Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood ( MB)'s candidate Mohamed Morsi and ex-prime minister Ahmed Shafiq are to contest in the run-off in mid-June.

Refaat said Mubarak and Adli were condemned because of "refrain". "Refrain means if they did not order to kill the protestors, they refrained from ordering to stop this act as a part of their responsibility," Noha Bakr, political science professor at the American University in Cairo, told Xinhua.

In fact, "The judge's legal justification for his overall ruling of insufficient evidences practically guarantees Mubarak and Adli's acquittal on appeal," state-run al-Ahram newspaper's website reported. When announcing the verdicts, Refaat said all evidences were free of material ones to satisfy the court and that there was no certainty to say they committed crimes of murder.

Yet, legal experts argue that the final verdict was more political than judicial, as the judge was about to acquit Mubarak and Adli, but eventually intended to calm the political opinions down even though they are acquitted in the appeal. But still, protestors said they were not satisfied with the acquittal for Alaa and Gamal.

The long-awaited verdicts immediately sparked an outcry among key political powers, such as the Muslim Brotherhood and defeated presidential candidates and many citizens.

On Saturday evening, thousands flocked to the iconic Tahrir Square in the Egyptian capital of Cairo, the epicenter of last year's anti-government protests, to express their opposition to the court's decisions.

Mohamed Ghazlan, spokesperson of the MB, said "the verdict which acquitted the leaders of the police and wasted the martyears' blood and handicapped justice is a shock for all Egyptians." He added that the MB would participate in the protests with all Egyptians against the verdict.

The electoral campaign of Hamdeen Sabahi, a defeated presidential candidate who ranked third in the first round polls, called for retrying Mubarak and members of his regime in a revolutionary court.

Meanwhile, Noran Mohamed, a political activist, told Xinhua that "I'm going to the Tahrir Square, another revolution is waiting for Egypt, because the January 25 revolution has been already aborted by this depressing verdict."

"The verdict will be appealed and then commuted, we are sure this will happen," she added.

Analysts say some political forces would take advantage of the verdicts to group more supporters in the run-off that will take place on June 16-17.

The political situation in Egypt is now flared up by two sequential incidents, the results of the first round of presidential elections and then the verdicts in Mubarak's case.

"More demonstrations, clashes and disturbances are expected in the coming period, especially that the situation is already fired by the first round of the presidential elections," Bakr said.

The verdicts of Mubarak and Adli are believed to affect the chance of Shafiq in the run-off negatively, as Shafiq resembles "a ghost" of the former regime, she said.

Shafiq, previously an air force commander, the aviation minister and at last the prime minister of the Mubarak regime, is described by his opponents as "feloul" (means remnants in Arabic).

"Now Alaa and Gamal are innocent in the cases of killing the protestors and profiteering, and face only one case of manipulating the stock-exchange, from which they may get acquitted as well. This means they may be back to the political life", Saed Lawendy, political expert in the Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, told Xinhua.

"The public now believe that no one will allow them to come back to political life except Shafiq, as he must be loyal to the former regime, so anyone who was thinking to vote for Shafik will definitely retreat," he added.

Meanwhile, Bakr also believed those people who hesitated between Shafiq and Morsi might well turn to Morsi in the end.

"Acquitting Adli's Aids and Mubarak's sons sends the people the message of a return to the former regime, and Shafiq is the only one who ensures them this return," she said.

"Also the Muslim Brotherhood will make use of the verdict incident in their political campaign against Shafiq for the interest of Morsi," Bakr added.