Egyptians voted steadily for a second day to choose their leader freely for the first time in six decades of military-backed rule, thanks to last year’s popular revolt that swept Hosni Mubarak from power.
The election is a defining moment for Egypt, whose 50 million voters can decide whether to endow the most populous Arab nation with an Islamist president for the next four years, as well as the Islamist-dominated parliament elected earlier.
But secular candidates like ex-Arab League chief Amr Moussa and Mubarak’s last premier Ahmed Shafiq are in with a chance.
Some voters voice disappointment with the performance of parliament, where the Muslim Brotherhood’s party has the biggest bloc. Alarmed by the rising crime, disorder and economic woes of the past 15 months, some favor a man with government or military experience, even if he harks back to the Mubarak era.
Queues built up outside polling stations in the baking sun, with many voters determined not to miss their chance to influence the first round. The government declared Thursday a public holiday to allow state employees to cast their vote.
«I came yesterday and found it very crowded so I came today,» said Khaled Abdou, a 25-year-old engineer voting in Cairo. «I must participate in choosing the president and I hope this leads to stability and the change needed.»
Voting passed off calmly on Wednesday, apart from a stone-throwing attack on Shafiq, 70, a former air force chief.
Other leading candidates are the Brotherhood’s Mohamed Mursi, 60, independent Islamist Abdel Moneim Abol Fotouh, 60, Moussa, 75, who served as Mubarak’s foreign minister in the 1990s, and leftist Hamdeen Sabahy, 57.
If no one wins more than half the votes needed for outright victory, the top two will contest a run-off on June 16 and 17.
«This is the first time I have voted in my entire life. I didn’t take part in past elections because we knew who would be president. This is the first time we don’t know,» said Mohamed Mustafa, a 52-year-old engineer in Cairo’s Zamalek district.
The vote marks a crucial stage in a turbulent army-led transition racked by protests, violence and political disputes. The generals who took charge when Mubarak was ousted on February 11, 2011, have pledged to hand over to the new president by July 1.
Even then the army, whose grip reaches deep into government and the economy, is likely to wield influence for years to come. A tussle over who should write the constitution also means the new president will not know his own powers when he is elected.
With no reliable opinion polls, the presidential race is wide open, a pleasant change for Egyptians accustomed to the routinely forged votes of Mubarak’s 30 years in power.
The Muslim Brotherhood said Mursi was ahead after the first day of voting. Moussa’s campaign also put Mursi in the lead with its candidate second. Their estimates could not be confirmed.
First-round results may be clear by Saturday, but an official announcement is not due until Tuesday.
«This is the first time we can really choose our president and no one will mess with the result,» said Ahmed Shaltout, a 36-year-old lawyer who said he would vote for Mursi.
Explaining why he favored Moussa, Mohamed Salem, a shopkeeper near the Pyramids, said: «I want security and prosperity like before. We in the tourism sector were the most hurt. We could not count the number of tourists coming into our shops every day. Now we hardly need our fingers to count them.»
Egyptians appear divided, even within families, between those willing to give Islamists a chance to rule this deeply conservative country and those who put security first.
«Security is the most important thing of course. If there is security we will have work, money and an economy. If there is no security no tourists will come. That’s the first thing,» said Sayed Mohamed, 33, a company manager, who supports Shafiq.
The next president will face huge tasks in reviving Egypt’s wilting economy and restoring security – since they collapsed during the anti-Mubarak revolt, the police who were once a feared presence everywhere have been reduced to a shadow.
Security is Shafiq’s strongest card. A former aviation minister, he was appointed prime minister days before Mubarak fell and quit soon afterwards in response to popular protests.
But his links with the Mubarak era may tell against him.
When he arrived to vote in Cairo, protesters hurled shoes and stones at him. «The coward is here. The criminal is here,» they cried. «Down with military rule.»
Independent monitors noted minor infringements in Wednesday’s voting, such as campaigning outside polling stations, but said they did not undermine its validity.
Mubarak, 84, is contemplating the spectacle of a free election from the upscale Cairo hospital where he is confined while on trial for ordering the killing of protesters and for corruption. A verdict is due on June 2, two weeks before any presidential run-off. A death sentence is possible but unlikely.
buenosairesherald.com