CAIRO, 6 September 2005 — Veteran Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak urged Egyptians to go to the polls for the nation’s first contested presidential election, but a ban on independent monitors fueled concerns yesterday about transparency. There has never been any doubt that the 77-year-old Mubarak — already the second longest-serving ruler in the region — will win a fifth mandate tomorrow.
“The Hosni Mubarak speaking to you tonight is seeking the support of each and everyone of you,” he told a crowd of thousands of supporters gathered in Cairo for his closing campaign rally.
“We want more freedom for our people and democracy for our country. We want more jobs and a stronger economy,” he said, hammering home the economic pledge, which was the centerpiece of his campaign.
Until now, Egyptians had only been able to say yes or no to a single Parliament-appointed candidate for president and in 1999 the veteran Mubarak was re-elected with 93.79 percent of the vote. Although the campaign officially ended at midnight Sunday, state-owned newspapers were full of adverts supporting the president paid for by private companies.
Opposition Ghad party leader Ayman Nour has led by far the most aggressive campaign of the nine challengers, launching stinging attacks against Mubarak, whose aura as father of the nation had made him untouchable for so long.
“We want freedom, we want to end 24 years of oppression, economic crisis and joblessness,” Nour thundered relentlessly as he crisscrossed the country.
The 40-year-old Nour — by far the youngest of the 10 candidates vying for the presidency — pounded the pavement and pressed flesh during a campaign that culminated in a large gathering on Cairo’s largest square.
Although he managed to raise his profile as the leading opposition candidate, many observers predict second spot could be clinched by Numan Gumaa, who chairs the liberal Wafd party. Critics have charged Gumaa is a token opposition candidate who was prodded into standing by Mubarak’s ruling party to strip Nour of votes.
The country’s Christian minority, women and the Muslim Brotherhood notably absent from the selection. But a wind of change has blown through Egypt since the start of the campaign on Aug. 17, with guests criticizing Mubarak on state television and independent newspapers carrying vitriolic editorials against the regime. “The significance of this election isn’t the possibility of unseating Mubarak, but the fact that many Egyptians have boldly challenged his quarter century of rule,” the New York-based advocacy group Human Rights Watch said.
