Friday, May 25, 2012
Gulf News
Cairo Two Islamists are leading in Egypt’s landmark presidential election, but two Mubarak-era contenders are not far behind, according to a group monitoring the polls.
The Revolution Shadow Government, a self-styled group, said in a statement yesterday that moderate Islamist Abdul Moneim Abu Al Fotouh and the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate Mohammad Mursi won 26.3 per cent and 24.2 per cent of the vote respectively after the first day of the two-day polls.
Leftist contender Hamdeen Sabahi is in third place with 21 per cent, followed by Ahmad Shafiq, Mubarak’s last premier, with 11 per cent and Amr Mousa, the former foreign minister, with 10 per cent.
Government employees were yesterday given a day off to bolster the turnout.
Explaining its findings, the monitoring group said it had used exit polls surveying 2,085 voters in 15 of Egypt’s 27 governorates.
“Our poll is based on a random sample with a possible error margin of 5 per cent.
“But in all cases, this poll comes as strong evidence of the public opposition to Al Felul candidates,” Ali Abdul Aziz, the group’s head, said, using a derogatory term referring to Mubarak-era officials.
Abu Al Fotouh’s campaigners said that their candidate was a “few steps” away from becoming president.
Observers, however, dismiss the findings as unscientific, calling them part of a “psychological war” waged by the contestants against each other in a race being contested by 13 hopefuls.
An electoral commission is expected to announce the official result on Tuesday after looking into complaints from the contenders.
In case no candidate secures a clear majority, the runoff will be held on June 16-17.
By Ramadan Al Sherbini?Correspondent
Gulf News 2012. All rights reserved.
