No surprises in Egypt - Half of all ballots in Egypt have been counted, and first results seem to show that Egypt’s president, in power for the last 24 years, Hosni Mubarak, will continue ruling the country for another six years.
Initial results show that Mubarak took 70 percent of the vote, with the remainder of ballots split between the al-Ad (Tomorrow) party, and the al-Wafed party.
An Egyptian voter casts his ballot (Photo: Reuters)
Around 32 million Egyptians were eligible to cast their ballot, and were called on by the Egyptian authorities to go the polls and take part in Egypt’s first contested elections in 53 years.
Egyptian authorities estimate that a full count of the votes will be complete by Friday Afternoon.
While there are no official counts of the number of people who voted, a source from Mubarak’s camp said that around 30 percent of those eligible voted. The source said that the ruling party was satisfied with the figure.
The elections are being taken seriously by many citizens in Egypt, some of who see the impact of the event beyond the immediate results.
Charges of cheating
However, many reports have been made of attempted pressure on voters, and irregularities during the elections, in an attempt to win votes for Mubarak.
According to some reports, poll stations in Cairo and Alexendria promised poor voters food and money in return for a promise that they would vote for the Egyptian president. Ayman Nur, a leading opposition candidate, said in response that “the elections were not all fair.”
In an interview with the al-Jazeera Arabic news network, Nur called for a rejection of the results, and for new elections.
The government has denied the charge of cheating, and said in a statement that “it’s possible that there were some criticisms, and some violations by managers (of stations), but we all must agree that an experiment is taking place against our eyes that will allow freedom and democracy to prosper in Egyptian society.”
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