Egypt’s first ever presidential election has come to a close, and after a series of conflicting reports and some razor thin margins in mid-count, the preliminary results have set up a runoff between Muslim Brotherhood candidate Dr. Mohammed Mursi and former Mubarak loyalist Ahmed Shafiq.
Preliminary Egypt Presidential Vote Results (top two in runoff)
- Mohammed Mursi – 5,553,097
- Ahmed Shafiq – 5,210,978
- Hamdeen Sabbahi – 4,739,983
- Abdelmoneim Abol-Fotouh – 3,939,264
- Amr Moussa – 2,407,837
The final results had been predicted from fairly early in the count, but a surprising surge by populist candidate Hamdeen Sabbahi, who barely had a presence outside of the major cities, had him neck and neck with Shafiq. Salafist candidate Abdelmoneim Abol-Fotouh disappointed with a distant fourth, while the once clear front-runner, former Arab League chief Amr Moussa, appeared to lose momentum in the final weeks of the campaign and floundered in at fifth. Six other candidates had votes, but officials termed them “negligible” compared to the top five.
Final results won’t be certified until Tuesday, and recounts could still conceivably change things, but for now the choice for Egyptians will be between Dr. Mursi, a former professor at Cal State-Northridge who has centered his candidacy on removing the military junta from power as soon as possible, and Air Marshal Shafiq, who served a tumultuous month in the role of Mubarak’s last appointed prime minister in February 2011, in the midst of the revolution.
The run-off will leave the liberal portion of the revolutionaries unclear on who to vote for, concerned that voting for Mursi, the head of the parliament-leading Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), will move the country toward religious rule, while Shafiq would take the country back to the bad old days of Mubarak.
The FJP has claimed that Sabbahi and Abol-Fotouh have both endorsed Mursi in the runoff, though their campaign leaders deny that any such decision has been made yet. Fotouh’s followers are almost certain to endorse Mursi over Shafiq, though it is possible that Sabbahi’s supports may simply skip the runoff.
US officials aren’t thrilled with this either, though it isn’t clear if they were still backing Moussa or had moved to someone else among the liberal candidates. Eric Trager, an expert with the AIPAC-linked WINEP, termed the runoff “flavors of bad.”
The final outcome of the Egyptian elections are extremely important for the Palestinian people and Gazan people in particular. For the sake of the Gazans it is to be hoped that the Islamic Brotherhood will have a decive voice in the future government and that Egypt is going to play a leading role and set an example to the other ME countries, (Jordan) by shaking off US/Israeli dominance in the region.
The Islamic Brotherhood is not the bogey man as it is often wrongly portrayed by the western news media. It has always been a relative non-violent very moderate movement and social economic reforms have always been the main front of their policies.
The final outcome of the Egyptian elections are extremely important for the Palestinian people and Gazan people in particular. For the sake of the Gazans it is to be hoped that the Islamic Brotherhood will have a decisive voice in the future government and that Egypt is going to play a leading role and set an example to the other ME countries, (Jordan) by shaking off US/Israeli dominance in the region.
The Islamic Brotherhood is not the bogey man as it is often wrongly portrayed by the western news media. It has always been a relative non-violent very moderate movement and social economic reforms have always been the main front of their policies.
This Mubarak’s remnant should have been put in prison, hanged, or at list disqualified. This guy is a copy of Mubarak, and is loved by the west and Israel as well as by the military dictatorship that is now in power.
I bet my $000 against your $1 that the military will pull his name out of the ballet box as the new president of Egypt. . This is what Egyptians deserve for not completing the revolution by getting rid of Mubarak’s generals.
Correction of typo:
This Mubarak’s remnant should have been put in prison, hanged, or at list disqualified. This guy is a copy of Mubarak, and is loved by the west and Israel as well as by the military dictatorship that is now in power.
I bet my $1000 against your $1 that the military will pull his name out of the ballet box as the new president of Egypt. . This is what Egyptians deserve for not completing the revolution by getting rid of Mubarak’s generals.
The hell with Anti-war.com for the manner in which they post readers comments. Their criteria are just a notch better than MSN and corporate media. Whereas corporate media does not publish opposing viewpoints at all, Anti-war either doesn’t publish them or if they do so they do it when it is too late. If they publish this comment, they want to show that I’m wrong, but don’t be fooled by such shenanigan.
It is easy to see what the Egyptian Army and the U.S would like to "do" or have happen…… The question is…. will they attempt it… Doing it could blow the lid right off………. When i see the totals ……… it looks to me like "they" are considering it ………….. even though it's crazy dangerous… !!!!!!!
The Muslim Brotherhood is not a stupid organization; it has remained a force to be reckoned with since its forming in the 20's and survives today as a legitimate political entity in the Middle East. If the MB were to move to impose strict Saudi- or Nigerian-style shari'a rule it would immediately come under fire for being an oppressive regime (while, one might note, the same charge is swept under the rug in the case of the other two mentioned nations) and would no doubt be one of the next targets for the US to focus on. If the MB does indeed take power and imposes shari'a as the law of the land, I- and no doubt many other Muslims- would pray they do so in a responsible, prudent manner and appoint moderate ministers and jurists along the way. If the world were to see Egypt as both an Islamic AND moderate nation, it would be a coup for Islamists everywhere and would encourage them to adopt moderate views as well- thus paving the way for further integration into the wider world as equals.