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pinto

(106,886 posts)
Sat May 26, 2012, 08:14 AM May 2012

Mursi and Shafiq go to Egypt poll runoff - media

Source: BBC

Egyptians will choose between between the Muslim Brotherhood and a candidate from the Mubarak-era regime when the presidential election goes to a run-off, state media confirm.

The Brotherhood candidate, Mohammed Mursi, has a slight lead on former PM Ahmed Shafiq, with a reported 25.3% of votes against 24.9%.

The two represent forces that have battled each other for decades.

The second round in Egypt's first free presidential polls is on 16-17 June.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18217559



Pretty even split.
17 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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muriel_volestrangler

(101,161 posts)
1. Some commentary from the Lodnon Review of Books:
Sat May 26, 2012, 09:16 AM
May 2012
They called him the ‘spare tyre’, but he may become the next president of Egypt – the first president of the post-Mubarak order. Mohamed Morsi, the candidate for the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, is a charmless man, doctrinaire in disposition and impatient with the reform-minded currents in his party. He became its candidate only after its more appealing first choice, Khairat El-Shater, was disqualified from running by the Presidential Election Commission; hence the nickname. (The commission cited a Mubarak-era rule that those who have been in prison in the last six years are ineligible to run; El-Shater was released only in March 2011.) Yet Morsi had behind him the electoral machine of the Muslim Brotherhood, still the country’s most significant political movement.

The Brotherhood initially said it wouldn’t run a candidate for president, but soon changed its mind, just as it fielded candidates for two-thirds of the seats in parliament after saying it would only run for half. (These shifts have heightened the fears of secularists and Christians.) The Brotherhood – or rather Morsi – seems to have won around 26 per cent of the vote, two points ahead of the runner-up, Ahmed Shafiq, a former air force general and Mubarak’s last prime minister: a man despised by many Egyptians as a ‘feloul’, or ‘remnant’ of the old regime. Shafiq, like Morsi, is a spare tyre: he became the old order’s favourite after Omar Suleiman was disqualified from running. He had an unexpected surge in the last few weeks, in part thanks to Christian support; anxious over the rise in sectarian violence, and terrified of the Brotherhood, Copts voted as a bloc.
...
http://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2012/05/26/adam-shatz/two-faces-of-the-old-order/

pinto

(106,886 posts)
4. Interesting parallel - Alawites / Syrian Christians.
Sat May 26, 2012, 10:28 AM
May 2012

I know a couple of Syrian immigrant families, Eastern Orthodox Catholics. They say that support for Assad was primarily based on the somewhat greater protections afford them by the Alawites. And, somewhat of a stretch imo, that civil unrest was spurred solely by Lebanese Sunnis. Syrian Sunnis compromise ~ 75% of the population, Christian sects ~ 10%.

And they say the long convoluted immigration process was more about economic opportunity, not politics nor religious issues. Typical pathway to the US - migrate to Sweden, establish Swedish citizenship, migrate to the US as a Swede national. Or migrate via marriage to a US citizen.

 

may3rd

(593 posts)
2. SO, which puppet will be the wests man in the middle east
Sat May 26, 2012, 10:23 AM
May 2012

Or
have they both been vetted ?


any thoughts ?

 

Alamuti Lotus

(3,093 posts)
9. no, the Ikhwan has LONG been a western puppet..
Sat May 26, 2012, 03:46 PM
May 2012

as part of the long-standing "anyone who hates commies is fine by us" aspect of US policy.

 

may3rd

(593 posts)
16. which ever side claims victory the loudest
Sun May 27, 2012, 03:01 PM
May 2012

the shit will still hit the fan


get the popcorn,
Sore Loserstan will emerge from the ashes of the arab spring.

Think not ?

JCMach1

(27,544 posts)
5. Shafiq is a former regime douchebag and Mursi supports the repeal
Sat May 26, 2012, 12:14 PM
May 2012

of genital mutilation laws and laws protecting women from sexual harassment.

Egypt is royally screwed.

I cross-posted an article looking at the results from the perspective of the revolutionaries who overthrew Mubarak.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1253271

JCMach1

(27,544 posts)
6. A recent quote from Mursi
Sat May 26, 2012, 12:20 PM
May 2012
“The Koran is our constitution, the Prophet is our leader, jihad is our path and death in the name of Allah is our goal,” Mursi apparently said in an election speech at Cairo University on Saturday evening. “Today we can establish Sharia law because our nation will acquire well-being only with Islam and Sharia. The Muslim Brothers and the Freedom and Justice Party will be the conductors of these goals.” ... http://www.theblaze.com/stories/muslim-brotherhoods-egyptian-presidential-candidate-jihad-is-our-path-death-in-the-name-of-allah-is-our-goal/
 

Alamuti Lotus

(3,093 posts)
10. yes, they're both twits and represent business as usual really..
Sat May 26, 2012, 08:01 PM
May 2012

the pseudo-Nasserist, Arab nationalist, leftist candidate Hamdeen Sabahi was the only one that represented anything geniunely exciting, and there's pretty good evidence developing that he was royally shafted by some 'irregularities' that seem to be amounting to large scale fraud.

 

riderinthestorm

(23,272 posts)
11. Pretty horrifying all around actually. Thanks for the link
Sat May 26, 2012, 08:39 PM
May 2012

Sounds like the secular revolutionaries are truly screwed....

maddezmom

(135,060 posts)
7. Egypt's 3rd runner-up calls for vote recount
Sat May 26, 2012, 02:19 PM
May 2012

Egypt's 3rd runner-up calls for vote recount

By MAGGIE MICHAEL, Associated Press – 57 minutes ago

CAIRO (AP) — The third runner-up in Egypt's presidential race called Saturday for a partial vote recount, citing violations, his spokesman said.

Early results show that Hamdeen Sabahi came in third by a margin of some 700,000 votes, leaving him out of next month's run-off between the two leading candidates.

Sabahi's spokesman Hossam Mounis said the campaign has found evidence of many violations during the two days of voting that would affect the final results. He declined to give details about the violations but said appeals would be filed Sunday.

"The evidence we have and that we are still accumulating shows a big number of violations in many polling centers that would affect the final results," he said.

More:http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iZKdIO9ZEA-fdhBSjeuUl5NRnQ6Q?docId=bc04519753d247d0bed1f0320b0323a5

 

JackRiddler

(24,979 posts)
13. Is that a joke?
Sun May 27, 2012, 11:52 AM
May 2012

Egypt is under a military junta. There is no new constitution. Thousands of revolutionaries and activists are given summary military trials and multi-year prison sentences. More people have been killed by the military crackdowns on protests than under Mubarak. The same people control the economy and media as before - Mubarak's crony milieu. These were the circumstances under which the election was held that produced Mr. Brotherhood vs. Mr. Mubarak Prime Minister as the two remaining choices. And when the third-place candidate squeaks in the impossible attempt to get a recount, do you really think that's a form of civilian oversight and a sign of democracy?

pinto

(106,886 posts)
14. If they pull it off it's a form of oversight - or at least a stab at it. Will it change anything?
Sun May 27, 2012, 02:32 PM
May 2012

Doubt it. Yet the whole country is watching, as well as much of the Arab world. To try and fall short at this point is better than writing the whole thing off, imo.

Mr.Turnip

(645 posts)
12. What fantastic choices.....
Sun May 27, 2012, 02:22 AM
May 2012


In all seriousness I hate to say this but the Egyptian revolution has been a complete failure, none of the progress the secular revolutionaries hoped for will be made now. So now here we stand with a former Mubarak flunkie and a theocrat.

I can't believe Im saying this but I hope they vote for the Mubarak dickwad over the Islamist nutjob, the status quo in Egypt is probably better than an entirely theocrat dominated Government, which they would have if the Brotherhood won the Presidency.

rayofreason

(2,259 posts)
15. Voters went 2:1 for Islamists in Parliament....
Sun May 27, 2012, 02:57 PM
May 2012

...why should this be any different? The MB candidate will win.

Why would anyone have any expectation that the revolution in Egypt was going to go anywhere except in an Islamist direction? This is a country that only banned female genital mutilation in 2007 (Mubark's wife was making an enforcement of the ban her major issue, for all the haters of the old regime). Yet estimates are 90% of Egyptian females suffer from female genital mutilation. And now the Islamists want to bring it back and support it.

http://www.rt.com/news/egypt-revive-mutilation-alarm-372/

FGM is only one example of Egyptian attitudes, the level of culture, and the prevalence of hard-line Islamist views.

 

may3rd

(593 posts)
17. let freedom ring...
Sun May 27, 2012, 03:05 PM
May 2012

well,
except for women,minorities and those non believers of the sunni brand that will rule with an iron fist.
yes,
rule much like Pharaoh Sadat

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