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May 23rd, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda
“We will not allow any violation or attempt to influence the electoral
process or the voters.”
The first round of voting will take place on Wednesday and Thursday, with
results likely at the weekend.
The front-runner, ever since Mr Mubarak’s fall after 18 days of dramatic
protests in Tahrir Square, has been Amr Moussa, a former foreign minister
and secretary-general of the Arab League.
He has name recognition, and has a broad appeal. Although associated with the
old regime, he is known to have fallen out with Mr Mubarak, leading to his
departure from government more than ten years ago.
But as a member of the wealthy ruling elite, and the oldest candidate at 75,
he comes over as out-of-touch to many working class and younger voters,
empowered for the first time.
It also hard to ignore the success won by the Islamist parties in the
parliamentary elections in December and January. Against the polls’
predictions, the Muslim Brotherhood and the even more conservative Salafi
movement won almost three-quarters of the seats.
If the Brotherhood were able to repeat that success, the winner would be
Mohammed Morsi, an American-educated professor of engineering, with
conservative views on social issues and a staunchly free market economic
agenda.
But he lacks charisma, and the Brotherhood has made itself unpopular by being
seen as too greedy for power – it originally promised not to put forward a
candidate.
That would leave room for Abdulmoneim Aboul Fotouh, a former Brotherhood
leader who left the movement after his attempts to reform it failed, and who
has publicly committed himself to respect personal freedoms and a multiparty
democracy.
The fifth candidate, Hamdeen Sabahi, has had a late surge in popularity.
His socialist and nationalist beliefs hark back to the 1950s and 60s, but
still have an appeal, especially for the urban liberals who fought to bring
down the military regime but regard Islamic rule as almost as bad.
Even many of the people who took no part in the revolution – a “silent
majority” known popularly as the Hizb al-Kanaba, or Sofa Party – are
positive about the outcome. An opinion poll said 52 per cent of people were “optimistic
about the future”, compared to just 18 per cent who were pessimistic.
Ahmed Saber, 44, a doctor, said the Muslim Brotherhood’s “Renaissance
Project” could turn Egypt into an advanced country in 20 years. “Look
what the Islamist party has done in Turkey,” he said – a common
comparison, though the Brotherhood itself rejects it.
But some are sceptical that after so many years in power the military and
their now dissolved front party, the National Democratic Party, are prepared
really to hand over power.
“We aren’t used to fair elections,” said Mohammed Ali, 46, an IT
engineer walking across Tahrir Square. “The NDP consider this their
last battle, and they will use all the means they have planned and practised
to fix the election.”
He claimed, as have others, that old regime officials have been buying
identity cards and voting papers.
In a further attempt to mollify such concerns, the authorities also finally
granted papers to allow some international election monitors, including the
US-based Carter Centre, access to polling stations.
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