CAIRO: Egyptian authorities have finally allowed observers of this week’s presidential election to start work, monitoring groups said yesterday, too late for them to draw a full picture of Egypt’s first genuine leadership contest.
Fair, trouble-free voting today and tomorrow would help the winner establish his authority after 15 months of turbulent military rule since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak during a wave of Arab uprisings last year.
There have been few reports of the violence and intimidation by hired thugs that helped secure crushing election wins for Mubarak and his allies for decades, and Egyptians are looking forward to a vote whose outcome is not a foregone conclusion. But the official start of campaigning early this month was marred by deadly clashes in Cairo between troops and opponents of army rule, and some presidential hopefuls were disqualified at the last minute, sparking protests.
Egyptians hope the vote will mark an end to the political turmoil and instability that dashed early expectations of a swift improvement in their lives after Mubarak’s downfall.
Opinion polls, a largely untested exercise in Egypt, have varied widely but suggest the front-runners are two Mubarak-era figures — Amr Moussa and Ahmed Shafiq — and two Islamists — the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Mursi and Abdel Moneim Abol Fotouh, who was ejected from the movement last year.
Leftist Hamdeen Sabahy is a dark horse in the race with a growing following among young revolutionaries and workers.
A win for Shafiq, the last prime minister under Mubarak and like him a former air force commander, could spark a backlash by pro-democracy forces fearing a return to autocratic rule.
Mursi, with the backing of a formidable vote-winning machine that already secured the Brotherhood the most seats in parliament, says he can win outright in the first round.
If no candidate wins more than 50 percent in the first round, the top two vote-getters will fight a run-off in June. The army has pledged to hand power to the new president by July 1 and insists it is not siding with any candidate.
Egypt vote monitors allowed to work
