EGYPT: Presidential candidate Ahmed Shafik votes in run - off election

Record ID: 327798

  • Title: EGYPT: Presidential candidate Ahmed Shafik votes in run - off election
  • Date: 17th June 2012
  • Summary: CAIRO, EGYPT (JUNE 16, 2012) (REUTERS) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE AHMED SHAFIK ENTERING POLLING STATION AND BEING GREETED BY OFFICIALS SHAFIK REGISTERING TO VOTE SHAFIK GOING BEHIND SCREEN TO VOTE SHAFIK CASTING BALLOT SHAFIK LEAVING POLLING STATION SURROUNDED BY A CROWD OF PEOPLE MEMBERS OF MEDIA OUTSIDE POLLING STATION
  • Embargoed: 2nd July 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Egypt
  • Country: Egypt
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA68G7L4T0FTOHZ0E9CHQ6Y5G40
  • Story Text: Ahmed Shafiq, a former air force commander who is one of the two candidates in the run-off round of Egypt's first free presidential election cast his vote in a Cairo suburb on Saturday (June 16).
    Shafik, who was ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister, is pitted against conservative Islamist Mohamed Morsy, 60, of the Muslim Brotherhood.
    For those who preferred the secular centrists, leftists and moderate Islamists who lost in the first round, the two-man run-off leaves an unpalatable choice from the extremes.
    Some of Egypt's 50 million eligible voters say they will despoil their ballots rather than back Shafik, a former air force commander, or Mursi of the Brotherhood, the clandestine enemy of army rule for six decades.
    But many were determined to make their voice heard.
    Queues formed early at some polling stations as they opened for the first of two days of voting.
    Reeling from a court order two days ago to dissolve a new parliament dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood, many question whether the wealthy generals who pushed aside their fellow officer Mubarak last year to appease the pro-democracy protests of the Arab Spring will honour a pledge to let civilians rule.
    With neither a parliament nor a new constitution in place to define the president's powers, voting on Saturday (June 16) and Sunday (June 17) will not settle the matter, leaving 82 million Egyptians, foreign investors and allies in the United States and Europe unsure what kind of state the most populous Arab nation will be.
    A result of the poll could be known as early Sunday night, after the second day's vote.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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