Egyptians Stress Over Voting in Landmark Presidential Race

With his face taking up the entire
front page of a four-page insert in a state-run newspaper, the
advertisement for Islamist hopeful Abdel-Moneim Aboul-Fotouh is
one example of the last-minute efforts to win over voters in
Egypt’s presidential race.

As campaigning wrapped up ahead of the May 23 vote, no
clear-cut favorite had emerged in polls to see which of the 13
candidates may become the country’s first elected president
since Hosni Mubarak was ousted last year.

The election, which pits Islamists against secularists,
including former officials from the Mubarak regime, comes as the
country faces its slowest economic growth rate in a decade. For
Egyptians such as Shaaban Mohamed, the race is defined as much
by the promise of a new start as it is clouded by the political
tensions lingering almost 16 months after the popular uprising
against Mubarak.

“I’m worried about who to vote for,” said Mohamed, a 31-
year-old barber in Cairo. “If I choose wrong, I could be giving
my vote to a fool or a fanatic. That’s not the legacy I want to
leave for my children.”

Opinion polls have offered conflicting views of who is
leading a race that has seen personal attacks in a country
where, until last year, criticizing the president led to swift
reprisals.

A weekly survey by the semi-official Ahram Center for
Strategic and Political Studies has put former Arab League chief
Amre Moussa, who also served as foreign minister, in first
place. At the same time, other polls have given the top spot to
Aboul-Fotouh or to Ahmed Shafik, who briefly served as Mubarak’s
last premier. If there is no outright winner in the first stage
of the election, the two leading candidates will stand in a
second round in June.

Brotherhood Bid

Aboul-Fotouh’s ad in the May 19 edition of Akhbar al-Youm
underscores the energy — and money — candidates have put into
the contest, which has also featured the country’s first
presidential debate. Mohamed Mursi, the Muslim Brotherhood’s
candidate, held 25 concurrent rallies across the country via
live link-up on the last official day of campaigning,

You can read the rest of this article at:: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-05-21/egyptians-stress-over-voting-in-landmark-presidential-race

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Posted by RobertButler on May 21 2012. Filed under 2012 Presidential Campaign. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry