Donnerstag, 24. Mai 2012

Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate doing well on day two of Egypt’s presidential election

CAIRO — As Egyptians turned out to vote on the second day of a landmark presidential election Thursday, early indicators showed the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate taking the lead among the presumed front-runners.

The Brotherhood is the most organized and efficient political force in Egypt, and Mohammed Morsi’s campaign team went so far as to predict a possible outright victory, despite the damage done to the group’s reputation after it backtracked on a pledge not to put forward a presidential candidate.

“We are the front-runner, and we hope we can conclude this today and get 50-plus” percent, said Mourad Mohammed Aly, a media adviser to Morsi, although that outcome remained unlikely.

With turnout reportedly lower than on Wednesday, all five front-runners voiced optimism about their prospects even as several acknowledged Morsi’s relatively strong early showing. The campaign of former Arab League chief Amr Moussa also put Morsi in the lead, with 25 percent of the vote, and Moussa just behind him with 23 percent, based on exit polls at 13,000 polling stations.

“The turnout is not very good today. Of course this is why Morsi’s ahead, because his voters show up anyway. They bus them in,” said Ahmed Kamel, Moussa’s public relations advise. “We hope in the last hours people will show up.”

The first day of voting on Wednesday was hailed as largely free of fraud and violence, as voters endured long lines and heat to elect a leader after three decades of autocratic rule.

Voters and election monitors said they were encouraged by the strong turnout, the enthusiasm among those casting ballots and the orderly way in which polling stations were run. There were numerous reports of minor violations on Wednesday, such as campaigning on Election Day, but no evidence of the type of widespread, state-sanctioned fraud that kept Hosni Mubarak in power for nearly 30 years.

“Egyptians feel like we were born again today,” businessman Osama Abdel, 58, said as he left a polling station in Cairo’s Dokki district after casting a vote. “This is the first time,” he began, then paused before adding, “since the Ottomans!”

Denis Kadima, executive director of the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa, one of the three foreign groups accredited to monitor the election, said early reports from his 33 observers were encouraging. He said that his group had received complaints of “subtle campaigning” at polling sites, which is prohibited, but that he was not aware of serious breaches.

“If things continue the way they are now, this will be a very successful process,” Kadima said. “Everywhere we’ve been throughout the country, it has been peaceful, and things are orderly.”

There is no clear favorite among the 13 candidates. The contestants are as diverse as the voters are polarized about the kind of leader they want after more than 15 months of military rule. The presumed front-runners include secular candidates who played prominent roles in Mubarak’s government and Islamist leaders who were prosecuted under his police-state laws.

‘It’s the most beautiful day’

The idea of a free presidential vote has been greeted as nothing short of breathtaking by citizens of the Arab world’s most populous country, who for decades dismissed elections as mere charades, designed to give Mubarak’s regime a veneer of legitimacy. Many see it as the culmination of an arduous revolt that left hundreds of Egyptians dead and has ushered in a period of military rule in which lawlessness has soared and the economy has imploded.

Few Egyptians anticipated that the presidential vote would be marred by fraud, according to a Gallup poll conducted last month in which 82 percent of respondents said they expected a fair and honest election.

In addition to Morsi and Moussa, the presumed front-runners include Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, a moderate Islamist; Ahmed Shafiq, a prime minister under Mubarak; and Hamdeen Sabahi, a secularist with no ties to Mubarak’s government.

Election observers said participation by women appeared to be particularly strong. Jane Harman, director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and a former California congresswoman, said she was moved by a lively debate she witnessed between two female voters.

Harman said one of the women argued that her rights should be based on the teachings of Koran, Islam’s holy book. The other disagreed strongly, saying women’s rights should be guaranteed by law.

“How wonderful that they can have this debate in a line where both of them have the right to vote for whatever candidate they choose,” said Harman, who was with U.S. Embassy personnel.

Haitham Abd el-Zaher, 37, brought his 10-year-old son, Yousef, to a polling station in Cairo’s Agouza district so the child could witness the first competitive presidential election in Egypt’s modern history.

“It’s the most beautiful day. Egyptians are voting,” Zaher said. “I want to show him the joy Egypt is experiencing.”

Cautious optimism

The prevailing mood during the first hours of voting appeared to be one of muted, even wary, optimism. One death was reported, but officials said it involved a police officer killed during a dispute between civilians that was not election-related.

At the polling station in Agouza, set up at a girls’ school, Mona el-Maghrabi, 39, propped her sunglasses on top of her blond hair as she waited in line with two friends. She said she was voting with a heavy heart.

“It’s not the proper circumstances to vote, but we’ll still do it,” she said, referring to the long months of military rule since Mubarak’s ouster in February 2011. The marketing manager said she doesn’t want an Islamist president, noting that religious parties now dominate parliament.

Voting, Maghrabi said, is a way to pay homage to the Egyptians who died during the revolution. “Without the people who died, we would not be standing here today,” she said. “We’d have another ready-made president, and our vote wouldn’t count.”

Nearby, Omaima Mohammed Talaat sat in a wheelchair, waiting for someone to bring a ballot from a voting room upstairs. People with disabilities are treated poorly in Egypt, she said. That is why she intends to vote for Aboul Fotouh, who has promised to focus on the needs of disabled Egyptians, she said.

“I’m afraid and happy. We’ve never had such aggressive politics and such conflicting feelings,” she said. “We hope this is a free and fair election. We hope for justice.”

Voice of the Gospel Christian Radio - Radio Stimme des Evangeliums

Donnerstag, 24. Mai 2012

Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate doing well on day two of Egypt’s presidential election

Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate doing well on day two of Egypt’s presidential election

SOURCE: http://www.washingtonpost.com/

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