Historic Vote

Egyptians Head to Polls in Historic Vote

By CHARLES LEVINSON and MATT BRADLEY 5/23/2012

CAIRO—Millions of Egyptians voted Wednesday in a historic presidential election that is expected to usher in the country's first freely elected civilian leader after six decades of military-backed dictatorship.

Voters waited in long lines outside polling stations, which opened at 8 a.m. across the country, to cast ballots for Egypt's fifth president since a military coup ousted the king

in 1952 and its first to be chosen democratically.

"I never imagined that this day would come," said 53-year-old housewife Intisar Abdel Hakim, preparing to vote at a polling station at a Cairo primary school.

The election generally appeared to be proceeding smoothly and competing candidates were optimistic the vote wouldn't see widespread fraud. Parliamentary elections, which wrapped up in January, were widely praised as free and fair. But the stakes in this contest are much higher since power in Egypt is concentrated in the hands of the president, and many Egyptians remain nervous that the ruling military could still try to tip the election if it perceives the vote going for a candidate it's uncomfortable with.

Still, candidates' early appraisals of the voting process were encouraging.

"This is the first true democratic contest for president in the history of Egyptian life," said Mohammed Morsi, the candidate from the Muslim Brotherhood.

Speaking to voters at a polling station in Cairo, moderate Islamist candidate Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh called it "a historic moment Egypt has never before witnessed," with people choosing "the first Egyptian president selected without oppression from anyone, without a military coup, and without foreign interference."

The top contenders in the presidential contest, which will be held Wednesday and Thursday with a two-candidate runoff on June 16, include a pair of more secular-minded candidates with ties to the former regime of ousted President Hosni Mubarak, and a pair of Islamist candidates.

The top candidates have defined themselves in the eyes of many voters primarily along two or three key issues, including where they stand on the role of religion in public life and how sharp a break with the old regime they represent.

Whoever wins faces daunting challenges. Egypt's economy has cratered in the 16 months since the uprising toppled Mr. Mubarak. Egypt's military has pledged to hand over power to civilian rule after these elections, but remains a powerful force in the country and many believe it will continue jockeying for influence behind the scenes, testing the independence of Egypt's next ruler. Furthermore, deep rifts run through Egyptian politics and society that Egypt's next president will have to bridge if he hopes to succeed.

The contest is wide open. In the run-up to the vote, Egypt's historically unreliable polls have been all over the place, with the four most visible candidates rollercoastering up and down day-to-day and week-to-week.

Befuddled campaign strategists and political analysts believe large swaths of the voting public remained undecided until the last minute or have repeatedly changed their mind as the novel process of a competitive presidential campaign unfolded.

Dozens of interviews with voters waiting outside polling stations in various Cairo neighborhoods Wednesday morning only bolstered the impression of an election that is too close to call.

In many respects, the election's uncertain outcome has emerged as its most dramatic story line up until now. Egypt's past presidential elections have been mostly rubber-stamp referendums on a single candidate that few bothered to vote in. The country's supposed first multicandidate presidential vote in 2005 was hardly any better. Mr. Mubarak's top rival managed only a fraction of the vote and was tossed in jail soon after.

Former foreign minister Amr Moussa, widely cast as the front-runner, has appealed to voters as a seasoned statesmen with experience in government. The politically savvy liberal has proved capable of pulling support from secular Egyptians as well as traditionalists uncomfortable with too radical a break with the past. But Mr. Moussa has been dogged by his former ties to the regime.

Former Air Force Commander Ahmed Shafiq has emerged late as one of the contest's top contenders and most polarizing candidates. The last prime minister of the Mubarak era, Mr. Shafiq is an unapologetic regime holdover, pledging a firm hand to end the chaos that followed the revolution. He has appealed to Egyptians who miss the stability and security of the old regime and want a leader who will take a firm stance against Islamists.

Mr. Aboul Fotouh is an ex-leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood who has refashioned himself as a liberal Islamist. He has emerged as a leading contender using his early support for the revolution and his Islamist bona fides to draw support from an unlikely cross section of voters, ranging from conservative Islamists to secular liberals.

Rounding out the field of front runners is the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi. After joining the race late, the more conservative Islamist Mr. Morsi appeared to be a surprising underdog in this contest, reflecting mounting dissatisfaction with the Brotherhood in the five months since their dominant victory in parliamentary elections. But he has the backing of the Brotherhood's seasoned and powerful political machine.

In comparison to the frenzied atmosphere that swirled around polling stations during those parliamentary elections, the first hours of voting on Wednesday seemed comparatively calm.

This vote—for a single presidential candidate selected from a list of names widely known to most voters—is a much simpler process than the parliament vote, when voters faced twin ballots, dueling electoral systems, and hundreds of little-known candidates, compounded by threats of steep fines for any voter who failed to cast a ballot.

Candidate supporters—many from the better-organized Muslim Brotherhood—swarmed polling stations in those elections ostensibly helping voters navigate the complex process, but frequently sneaking in some last minute advocacy that appeared to sway scores of undecided voters at the last minute.

Noticeably, those partisan volunteers, from the Brotherhood or other candidates, appeared largely absent from most polling stations on Wednesday, which could deprive the Brotherhood of one of their most potent election day assets.

In the capital Cairo, home to about one-third of Egypt's 50 million registered voters, an unseasonable breeze and slight cloud cover kept Egypt's normally merciless summer temperatures in check for queuing voters.

"We believe this is the last chance for the revolution to succeed and the country to stabilize," said May Farouq, a 36-year-old French teacher at Cairo University. She said she was voting for Mr. Moussa because, although she wanted a secular candidate and with no regime ties, the only candidates who fit that bill she believed had no chance to win. Mr. Moussa was the least-worst option, she said.