Egypt to cast ballots in run-off elections The voters to can go to the Egyptian Embassy in Abu Dhabi or the Egyptian Consulate in Dubai to cast their ballots. The voting time is from 8am to 8pm.

Saturday, Jun 02, 2012

Abu Dhabi Egyptians overseas are to start casting their ballots on Sunday in what many see as a dispiriting choice between a return to the old corrupt tyrannical regime or a conservative Islamist giving the Muslim Brotherhood a trifecta of both parliamentary houses and the presidency.

Voters must now choose between Mohammad Mursi, who leads the Freedom and Justice Party, the political wing of Muslim Brotherhood and Ahmad Shafiq, the last prime minister of former President Hosni Mubarak — both are among the most disfavoured in the UAE and by revolutionaries in Egypt.

In the first round, Egyptians in the UAE voted strongly for moderate Islamist Abdul Moneim Abu Al Fotouh to be their next president.

Abu Al Fotouh, who left the Muslim Brotherhood last year after deciding to run for president, received 12,150 votes, well ahead of second-placed Hamdeen Sabahi, leader of the Dignity Party, who received 8,741 votes. He was followed by Amr Mousa, the former Arab League chief and the country’s former foreign minister, who received 7,814 votes.

Voting in the UAE will last for a week, while the final round of voting in Egypt will take place from June 16.

Admitting that the final round of elections presents voters with a serious dilemma of dispiriting choice between two candidates who both may not honour the people’s demands, Yahya Dakrouri, chairman of the Egypt’s State Council and former chair of the Judges Club, fears not victory of either candidate “because simply people are watching and judging and having the final say, so no worries.”

Omar Ashour, a political scientist and human rights activist, echoed the sentiments and said Egypt’s voters overwhelmingly chose the revolution over the old regime.

Dr Wahid Abdul Maguid, director of the Al Ahram Publishing Centre, said the first-round results had revealed that the power of the Muslim Brotherhood had faded away substantially after their weak performance in the parliament.

“Five months on [from] winning the parliamentary elections, the Muslim Brotherhood lost half of their supporters.”

Six out of ten Egyptians voted for Islamists in the parliamentary elections. That dropped to four in ten in the presidential election.

By Samir Salama Associate Editor