Egypt Elects

It’s been a big day in Egypt. Results were reported this morning, and as expected Shafiq and Mursi will be participating in a run off next month. The voting breakdown,  taken from the Independent, is as follows:

According to SPEC figures, the five front-running candidates (and their respective votes) were as follows:

1.  Mohamed Mursi ( 5,764,952 votes) 

2.  Ahmed Shafiq (5,505,327 votes)  

3.  Hamdeen Sabbahi (4,820,273 votes)

4.  Abdel-Moneim Abul-Fotouh (4,065,239 votes)

5.  Amr Moussa (2,588,850 votes)

Reports are coming in that Shafiq’s headquarters were ransacked and burned, as well as protestors being attacked by unknown assailants. It’s a worrying start to round two of the elections.  

My Twitter feed today has been 90% Egypt-related. I was not particularly surprised to hear that it will be a contest between Shafiq and Mursi. It will be an interesting month to say the least.

Mursi was initially mocked as a ‘back up’ candidate for the Brotherhood, so his finish as the top candidate, with 25% of the vote, demonstrates the political muscle of the organization. He has already made it clear that his, and the Brotherhood’s, “dream’ for the electorate is the implementation of sharia law. Christians and non-Islamists are reportedly dismayed at the success of his campaign.

For his part, Shafiq, who was Mubarak’s last premier, garnered 23% of the vote, according to Reuters. It is that that revolutionaries and Islamists are likely to be unhappy with his sudden surge in popularity.

It seems that the two more radical campaigners were victorious at the expense of more centrists candidates. I’m not convinced that a government formed by either man will be considered legitimate by a majority of the population.

The polls have officially closed in Egypt’s landmark presidential elections. The voting, which took place today and yesterday, was relatively uneventful and largely unfettered by violence, although there have been numerous claims of irregularities.

At this point, there are no reliable polls predicting the victor, although it seems likely that the elections will go to runoffs. A runoff vote will be held June 16-17 if no single candidate receives more than 50% of the votes, a feat which would be surprising given that the field consists of 13 candidates. Preliminary results are expected to be released over the weekend, and the final totals will be available Tuesday. Egypt Elects will keep you updated as the votes are counted.

From what I’m gathering on Twitter and Egypt’s MSM, voting today seems uneventful, aside from a slap fight that broke out between reps from Fotouh and Shafiq’s campaigns.

Voting will again continue until 9 PM tonight.Egyptian Authorities have declared today a holiday to allow government workers to vote.

There are some reports that the turn-out today is weaker than it was yesterday and overall it continues to be much weaker than the recent parliamentary elections, but EE will hold off on speculation until a more clear report of the numbers come in. As with yesterday, turn out will probably increase in the evening.