Elections

Convulsions in Libya

Fifteen days from now, the Libyan people will go to the polls. It will be the first election of its kind in Libya, but not the first election in the country. Qaddafi’s Jamahiriya held elections, but these turned out to be very large rubber stamps for a regime that conducted the spectacular trick of centralization in the name of de-centralization. But this is going to be a fraught election. The social and political conditions are unprepared for the niceties of electoral democracy. At the Rixos Hotel, the US democratic consultants have been trying to “guide” the country to democracy, and to offer their wisdom about elections. Part of their guidance has been to ...

In Disappointing Transition, Analysts Say Mubarak's Verdict Mocks Justice

The only trial that has taken place against one of the fallen dictators of the Arab revolutions ended today. The verdicts in former President Hosni Mubarak's trial may have symbolic importance for the region, but many feel they have mocked the hundreds of martyrs who died fighting against a thirty-year-old repressive and corrupt regime, analysts said. Conducted in a transitional period that has been presided over by an unaccountable military body, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), Saturday's verdicts highlight the trial's lack of transparency and will have a regressive impact on security sector reform. The outcome may also swing voters ahead ...

Egyptian Electoral Time Machine

Analyzing Egyptian Presidential Election Vote

    Ahram Online presents a detailed visual breakdown of the results from Egypt's first free presidential elections.         [Developed in partnership with Ahram Online. Ahmed Feteha, Basse

Egypt's Presidential Elections and Twitter Talk

It has been fifteen months since the resignation of former President Hosni Mubarak in February 2011. Since then there has been a continued sense of leaderlessness and overall instability throughout Egypt. Over the last two days1, Egyptians have taken to the ballot box in what has become an historic presidential election. Hours since the voting polls have closed, the ballots are still being counted as Egyptians wait with bated breath. This race has been hard to predict up to the very last hours—as though the elections for Egypt’s next president have been held up by the lack of polling. This essay examines social media content leading up to the presidential elections in ...

Why Did Abul-Fotouh Fail In The Presidential Elections?

After seen as one of the frontfronners in Egypt's presidential race, with many expecting that he would make the runoff, Abdel Moneim Abul-Fotouh's poor showing in the as yet unfinalised results placing him in fourth place has contradicted the expectations of both observers and analysts. The failure to secure enough votes to make it to the runoffs is a surprise given that his campaign was seen to represent a cross-section of the Egyptian political powers from extreme left to extreme right in what Abul-Fotouh called the project of "Strong Egypt." Many people had expressed doubts about Abul-Fotouh and his ability to unite everybody from liberals to Islamists, ...

Mursi First, Shafiq Second in Egypt President Race With Two Governorates to Tally Up

Results in twenty-five governorates aggregated by Ahram Online shows that with about 41.8 percent turn out, the Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Mursi is in the first place so far, followed by Ahmed Shafik, Mubarak's last prime minister, while the leftist candidate, Hamdeen Sabbahi, who proved to be the main surprise so far, fell back  to the third place. Still waiting for Cairo and Giza results. Will we witness more surprise? 1. Mursi 4,406,782 (26.48 per cent) 2. Shafiq 4,115,840 (24.74 per cent) 3. Sabbahi 3,329,519 (20.01 per cent) 4. Abul-Fotouh 2,959,937 (17.79 per cent) 5. Moussa 1,778,244 (10.69 per cent)   [Developed in ...

Nazlet Al-Semman District: 'Not Everybody Loves the Revolution'

On the second day of the presidential elections I went to Nazlet Al-Semman, the village adjoining the Giza plateau just outside Cairo – home to the majority of those pro-Mubarak thugs who waged the Battle of the Camel, taking their camels and horses over to Tahrir Square to attack protesters with a view to disbanding the sit-in. The event was crucial to toppling Mubarak after thirty years in power. Nazlet Al-Semman is best known for tourism – they provide tourists with horse and camel rides in the vicinity of the Pyramids – which has been affected badly by the revolution. As soon as I stepped in the neighborhood it was clear that the majority of the residents blame the ...

Vote Counting Begins in Historic Egypt Election

Following two days of voting, vote counting began Thursday at nine pm in the election that will determine Egypt’s next president. Unless one of the thirteen candidates achieves more than fifty percent of the vote, runoff elections are expected for 16 and 17 June. Polls conducted before voting began varied widely, with the election appearing to be a toss-up between five leading candidates. The results are still extremely preliminary because votes are being counted and can later be appealed, but Egypt Independent reporters’ access to ten polling stations in scattered locations across the country provides some insight into Egypt’s possible future. Hamdeen Sabbahi, a ...

Class Divisions Emerge in Alexandria Vote

Despite long lines and hot weather, people in Egypt’s second-largest city, ventured to polling stations to vote in the country's first free and fair presidential election. In Old Alexandria, where much of the city's working class lives and works in the downtown area, many voters told Egypt Independent they would vote for Nasserist candidate Hamdeen Sabbahi or moderate Islamist Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh. There was a strong deployment of military police and naval forces across the city, especially around polling stations. On Wednesday, the first day of the first round of voting, military personnel cruised the coastal city in jeeps blaring old patriotic songs, ...

Reading The Tea-Leaves: Early Indications of Egypt Presidential Poll Results

With the opening of polls in Egypt's first post-Mubarak presidential election, five frontrunners have a reasonable chance of making it to the runoff round of voting on June sixteenth and seventeeth. According to most opinion polls, the favorites are Amr Moussa, Abdel-Moneim Abul-Fotouh, Mohamed Mursi, Ahmed Shafiq and Hamdeen Sabbahi. Campaigners for all five presidential hopefuls have said their respective candidates would make it to the runoff. Informed sources, however, say the runoff is likely to feature two out of three frontrunners, namely, Mursi, Moussa or Shafiq. "Most probably, it will be Mursi and Moussa [in the runoff round], but those who ...