Official results in Egypt’s presidential election indicate the following results as of 10:00 am EST on Monday, May 28: Mohamed Morsi: 5,764,952 votes – 24.7% Ahmed Shafiq: 5,505,327 votes – 23.6% Hamdeen Sabahi: 4,820,273 votes – 20.7% Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh: 4,065,239 votes – 17.4% Amr Moussa: 2,588,850 votes – 11.1% Mohamed Selim al-Awa: 235,374 Which means a second round between Morsi and Shafiq on 19 June 2012
The upcoming Egyptian elections have the potential to not only change Egypt, but the entire Middle East. There’s a strong possibility that decades of American policy in the region can be overturned. The elections have huge implications for the United States and even bigger ones for Israel. War and peace may be in the balance.
Here in our Cairo bureau as I listen to the boats float by on the Nile blasting music as revelers enjoy the city before it’s clogged by voting with checkpoints, there’s talk that this could be a moment like 1979 in Iran, a possible 180-degree shift for the country and the Middle East. I’ll start at what’s immediately coming up.
On Wednesday and Thursday, Egyptians go to polls to elect a new president. First off, that’s big statement in itself. Egypt hasn’t elected a truly democratic leader in its 5,000 years of recorded history. This is the land of the pharaohs, the undisputed and often tyrannical God-kings. Then it was the land of the Romans, sultans, Mamluks, Khedives, kings, European-dominated governments and finally military rulers.
There are five main candidates who have a chance of winning the election. Egypt has a presidential system. The president runs the state. Who the president is matters profoundly. In order, the candidates are:
Mohammed Mursi:
Mohammad Mursi was originally the reserve candidate for the Muslim Brotherhood
The Muslim Brotherhood had long feared that the ruling military council would use Egypt’s election committee to disqualify Islamist presidential hopefuls in order to make room for former regime officials to win.
According to some estimates, the Brotherhood has a million activists in Egypt. Mursi is the official brotherhood candidate, but would likely end up as the group’s “face man.” Mursi is not charismatic. He’s not a dynamic speaker. He wasn’t the Brotherhood’s first choice. The group initially wanted its powerful money man Khairat al-Shater, a business tycoon who manages the group’s wealth, to be its candidate, but he was disqualified on account of his prison record. Egypt’s military-backed presidents, including Hosni Mubarak, imprisoned many Brotherhood members, seeing the group as its biggest existential threat. Analysts say Shater, the Brotherhood’s supreme guide, and its leadership committee would end up being the real force behind Mursi, pulling the strings. Right after the revolution that toppled Mubarak, the Brotherhood said it would not present a candidate for president, but then broke its promise. A Brotherhood victory would be a total about-face for Egypt. Since the late president Anwar Sadat, Egypt has pursued a largely pro-American, Western-leaning policy. Egypt has maintained a peace treaty with Israel since March 1979, following the Camp David accords. The Brotherhood has already threatened to cancel the peace treaty if the United States stops providing the $2.1 billion of military and development aid Egypt has received annually since 1982. The Brotherhood now talks publicly about maintaining good relations with the United States, but at its core the group is not pro-American. The Brotherhood is actively anti-Israel. Egypt’s long-term relations with United States and short-term relations with Israel could be at risk if Mursi becomes president. Egypt is the biggest country in the Middle East. So goes Egypt, so goes the region. A dramatic shift in Egypt’s alignment would have global implications.
Ahmed Shafiq
Mr Shafiq was Egypt’s last prime minister under Mubarak. He served for just over a month, until he resigned on 3 March 2011. His candidacy sparked angry reactions from those who saw him as a Mubarak loyalist. He was initially barred from standing, but reinstated recently after an appeal. Shafiq insists that he was always a voice of the opposition within Mr Mubarak’s regime.
His campaign flyers call him “the only civilian-administrative presidential candidate who has real and successful administrative experience”, referring to his nine-year term as minister of civil aviation.
Campaign material says that “Shafiq is the candidate of revolutionary decisions”, because he asked regional governors to name streets after dead revolutionary activists, and also froze the assets of key figures in the former regime.
Shafiq is the ultimate “fulool” candidate. He was the last prime minister appointed by Mubarak. Shafiq was, like Mubarak, an air force commander. Shafiq still defends Mubarak. Shafiq is presenting himself as “Mr. Security.” After the revolution Egyptian police were discredited. They were seen as the henchmen of the Mubarak regime. For the past year, the police have largely been absent from the streets. With the police gone, murder, rape, kidnappings, car-jackings and antiquities’ theft have all risen dramatically. Shafiq says he’ll restore order in 24 hours. He’s the strongman candidate. His message appeals to some Egyptians fed up with the deteriorating security situation. Critics say the revolution replaced one dictator in Mubarak and that electing Shafiq would simply be bringing in another one.
Abd Elmoneim Abo-ElFotoh 
Dr Abo-ElFotoh, a respected moderate, is running for office as an independent candidate
A long-time Muslim Brotherhood member known for his liberal views,was suspended from the group after he announced in May 2011 that he intended to run for president.
He lists four main aspirations behind his candidacy – to promote freedom in Egypt, to promote the value of justice, to strengthen education and scientific research, and to open the doors to investment in Egypt from Arab countries and beyond.
Al-Fotouh, like Mursi, speaks about maintaining good relations with world powers, including the United States. During his campaign, however, Al-Fotouh called Israel “an enemy state.”.Al-Fotouh likes to say Turkey is example Egypt could follow with an Islamist leader, but without Islamic fundamentalists deciding how people should live their daily lives.
sources :
Wikipedia, Al-Ahram , AFP, BBC Arabic , CBC Egypt , ON TV
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