Mixed reactions as results of Egypt’s presidential elections point to divisive runoff

There was mixed reaction in Egypt on Friday as news emerged that the Muslim Brotherhood candidate had won a spot in the presidential election runoff, according to partial results from the first round of voting.       

Nearly-complete results showed the Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi rising into the second round with a plurality of the votes, around 26 percent.       

Bacheir Abdel Fattah, a political analyst at El Ahram strategic studies in Cairo, said Morsi's success was a surprise "as everyone was expecting it to be the other moderate Islamic presidential candidate, Dr. Abdel-Moneim Abolfotoh."       

The Muslim Brotherhood, which already dominates parliament, has promised to implement Islamic law in Egypt, alarming moderate Muslims, secular Egyptians and the Christian minority who fear restrictions on many rights.        

Morsi's win was based on the Brotherhood's ability to bring out its fiercely loyal base.     

"Morsi is a religious man not corrupted and this is what we need," said local resident Ahmed Ibrahim.        

Former prime minister Ahmed Shafiq appeared to be the winner of the other spot in the runoff, and a head-to-head match between the two would be a heated race, and recreate the pattern of the past three decades, when the Brotherhood was the Mubarak regime's top opponent.       

Abdel Fattah said Shafiq's campaign promise to regain security "made a huge difference in putting him ahead".        

Shafiq's strong showing, in turn, would have been inconceivable a year ago amid the public's anti-regime fervour.       

He was Mubarak's last prime minister and was himself forced out of office by protests several weeks after his former boss was ousted.       

Morsi and Shafiq are the country's most polarizing candidates, each loathed by significant sectors of the population.       

"I am very upset with the results," said Dalal Anwar, a local resident. "I don't want an Islamist for president and if there is a runoff I will vote for Shafiq."      

Leftist candidate Hamdeen Sabahi was a dark horse during months of campaigning but had a surprising surge in the days before voting began as Egyptians looked for an alternative to both Islamists and the former regime figures.      

"Sabahi is like the Egyptian version of Obama," said Abdel Fattah. "He used an incredible slogan in the election which is the first time that Egyptians felt that Sabahi was like one of us."         With hundreds of thousands of still-uncounted votes from the capital Cairo and its sister city Giza, Sabahi has at least a theoretical chance to overtake Shafiq.          

"He is one of us," said Adham Al Kmouny, a local resident. "He is not considered an Islamist or from the former Mubarak regime. He is just an Egyptian."       

The runoff will be held on June 16-17, pitting the two top contenders from the first round of voting held on Wednesday and Thursday.        

The victor is to be announced June 21.

APTN