Egypt Presidential Election: Voting enters Day 2

Cairo: Egyptians will on Sunday go to the polls for a second and final day of voting to choose between a conservative Islamist and Hosni Mubarak's ex-prime minister in a presidential runoff.

Whoever wins will be the first freely-elected president since Hosni Mubarak, , who is now serving a life sentence for failing to prevent the killing of some 900 protesters during the 18-day uprising that toppled his regime in 2011.

The winner will be only the fifth president since the monarchy was overthrown nearly 60 years ago.

The race between Ahmed Shafiq, a career Air Force officer like Mubarak, and the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi, a US-trained engineer, has deeply divided the country after the stunning uprising that ousted Mubarak after 29 years in office, and left many disillusioned about the elections' legitimacy.

Many voters felt that the choice no longer even mattered after a court ruling this week effectively ensured that the military generals who have ruled since Mubarak's ouster will continue to be in power.

The generals took over legislative powers after Egypt's highest court on Thursday ordered the dissolution of Parliament elected just six months ago, and the military made a de facto declaration of martial law, despite earlier promises to hand over power to the new president by July 01. With no Constitution or Parliament, the president's powers are likely to be determined by a military with power to arrest civilians for crimes as minor as traffic obstruction.

To the activists behind the 18 days of mass protests that toppled Mubarak's regime, the election seemed a cruel joke, that crushed their dream of a new Egypt — free, democratic and rid of all traces of the old system.

Sunday, June 17, 2012 by deivam P Mohanraj · 0