Egyptians vote in landmark presidential election

[dipsydoodle]

Source: BBC News

Egyptians are heading to the polls in their first free presidential election, 15 months after ousting Hosni Mubarak in the Arab Spring uprising.

Fifty million people are eligible to vote, and queues are forming at some polling stations.

The military council which assumed presidential power in February 2011 has promised a fair vote and civilian rule.

The election pits Islamists against secularists, and revolutionaries against Mubarak-era ministers.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18167224

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Egyptians vote to rid nation of autocratic rule.

CAIRO (AP) -- Determined to end decades of authoritarian rule, millions of Egyptians waited patiently in long lines outside polling stations across the nation on Wednesday to freely choose their first president since last year's ouster of longtime ruler and close U.S. ally Hosni Mubarak.

"I can die in a matter of months, so I came for my children, so they can live," a tearful Medhat Ibrahim, 58, who suffers from cancer, said as he waited to vote in a poor district south of Cairo. "We want to live better, like human beings."

Thirteen candidates, who include Islamists, liberals and Mubarak regime figures, are contesting the election. No outright winner is expected to emerge from the two-day vote starting Wednesday. So, a runoff between the two top finishers will be held June 16-17. The winner will be announced on June 21.

"It's a miracle," said Selwa Abdel-Malik, a 60-year-old Christian from the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria as she was about to vote. "And it's a beautiful feeling too."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_EGYPT_ELECTION?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-05-23-04-36-53

[Kali]

1. I so wish the best for them.

Last year was incredible.

[pampango]

2. Aljazeera: Millions line up to choose new leader in first free and fair presidential polls since the

toppling of Hosni Mubarak.

Voting in Egypt’s first democratic presidential election has been unfolding peacefully, with election observers and media sources reporting calm lines and few violations in the country’s polling stations.

Thirteen candidates are running to succeed Hosni Mubarak, whose government was brought down by mass protests in 2011 after 30 years of authoritarian rule. They range from socialists to secular liberals to conservative Islamists, and opinion polls indicate the race remains a toss-up.

High female-voter turnout

In the northern coastal town of Alexandria, lines of voters began forming under the warm Mediterranean sun more than an hour before polls opened in some places.

Jamal Elshayyal, reporting from a voting station in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, where a few hundred women lined up, said there was a "huge euphoria as people are finally getting to choose who will rule the country."

The election comes less than two weeks before a court is expected to issue a verdict in the trial of Mubarak, 84, tried on charges of complicity in the killing of about 900 protesters during the uprising against his 29-year rule. He also faced corruption charges, along with his two sons, Gamal and Alaa.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2012/05/2012523141418639978.html

[4th law of robotics]

3. Really hope they choose well

the islamists were able to grab a lot of power/influence really quickly. That's not a good indicator.

[pampango]

4. Cool headline from the Telegraph: Egyptians choose their leader for first time in 5,000 years

There are no more pharaohs any more. One by one, the men who would rule over Egypt's 80 million people arrived at their polling stations, posed for the cameras, and with self-consciously modest smiles walked to the back of the queue.


There was enthusiasm that voters would get to choose their leader for the first time in 5,000
years of glorious history, but no whoops or fireworks.

It never used to be like this. The moment Egyptians finally lost their respect for President Hosni Mubarak, whose joyless grin dominated their lives for three decades, came when a state newspaper carried a photograph of Middle East leaders at the White House grotesquely photoshopped to show him standing not behind but in front of President Obama.

Now men like Amr Moussa, used to receiving sheikhs and monarchs with due pomp and ceremony as head of the Arab League, and Mohammed Morsi, whose Muslim Brotherhood have waited decades for their chance at power, had to wait behind their fellow citizens, like everybody else.

There was enthusiasm that voters would get to choose their leader for the first time in 5,000 years of glorious history, but no whoops or fireworks.

Many voters are disappointed with the choice of candidates, even though there are 13 of them - none would be said even by their supporters to have both the hoped-for charisma and a detailed plan to rescue Egypt from poverty and chaos.

But many also seemed to realise this was not such a bad thing - that having a choice at all was as important as how to exercise it; and that, barring some new dictatorship, they would have second chances, to vote out the man they now vote in should he disappoint them.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/egypt/9285941/Egyptians-choose-their-leader-for-first-time-in-5000-years.html