Maggie Michael
Ex-Mubarak PM praises ‘glorious’ Egyptian uprising
CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq paid tribute Saturday to the “glorious revolution” that toppled Hosni Mubarak, a dramatic turn-around for the former regime official who fought his way into the runoff elections by appealing to public disenchantment with last year’s uprising.
Shafiq, the last prime minister to serve under Mubarak, vowed there would be no “recreation of the old regime” as he prepared to face off against Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood in a runoff on June 16-17.
“I am fed up with being labeled ‘old regime,’” Shafiq told a news conference in his campaign headquarters. “This talk is no longer valid after seven million people voted for me.” When pressed on the issue, he said: “All Egyptians are part of the old regime. Why do you keep saying the same thing over and over again?”
Shafiq and Morsi were the top vote-getters after a two-day election on Wednesday and Thursday which none of the 13 candidates could win outright. Now, both must appeal to the roughly 50 percent of voters who cast ballots for someone else.
Shafiq appeared to use the news conference to try and cast off his image as an anti-revolution candidate who spoke disparagingly about the youth groups that engineered the anti-Mubarak uprising, reaching out to all segments of society in a bid to rally voters who favored his rivals during the first-round.
A former air force commander and a personal friend of Mubarak’s, Shafiq was booted out of office by a wave of street protests shortly after Mubarak stepped down on Feb. 11, 2011.
The 15 months since Mubarak’s ouster have seen a surge in crime, a faltering economy and seemingly endless street protests, work stoppages and sit-ins. The disorder has fed disenchantment with the revolutionary groups, and may have played to Shafiq’s advanatge.
However, ex-officer Shafiq is also associated with Egypt’s military leadership. The generals who took over from Mubarak, say critics, have mismanaged the transitional period and failed to reform corrupt institutions or to provide security.
Furthermore, they are blamed for the death of more than a hundred protesters, torturing detainees and trying before military tribunals at least 12,000 civilians.
“I pledge to every Egyptian that there will be no turning back and no recreation of the old regime,” said Shafiq, 70. “Egypt has changed and there will be no turning back the clock. We have had a glorious revolution. I pay tribute to this glorious revolution and pledge to be faithful to its call for justice and freedom.”
Shafiq also tried to enlist the support of youth groups, singling out the large associations of soccer fans known as “ultras” and April 6, both of which played a key role in the uprising.
His outreach was swiftly rejected by April 6, whose spokesman Ahmed Maher told a news conference that his group will never talk to the former prime minister, whom it considers as a pillar of the Mubarak regime.
He paid special tribute to Hamdeen Sabahi, a socialist and a champion of the poor who finished in third place. He held out the possibility of naming him as his deputy if elected president.
Morsi’s Brotherhood, meanwhile, has called for a meeting of the nation’s political forces to “deal with the challenges facing the nation” — a thinly veiled attempt to enlist support for its candidate.
More than a year after protesters demanding democracy toppled Mubarak, the face-off between the Morsi and Shafiq looked like a throwback to his era — a rivalry between a military-rooted strongman promising a firm hand to ensure stability and Islamists vowing to implement religious law.
The head-to-head match between them is the most polarized outcome possible from the first round, and will likely lead to a heated campaign. Each has die-hard supporters but is also loathed by significant sectors of the population.
The first round race turned out close. By Friday evening, counts from stations around the country reported by the state news agency gave Morsi 25.3 percent and Shafiq 24.9 percent with less than 100,000 votes difference.
A large chunk of the vote — more than 40 percent — went to candidates who were seen as more in the spirit of the uprising that toppled Mubarak, that is neither from the Brotherhood nor from the so-called “feloul,” or “remnants” of the old autocratic regime that Shafiq is considered one of.
In particular, those votes went to leftist Hamdeen Sabahi, who narrowly came in third in a surprisingly strong showing of 21.5 percent, and a moderate Islamist who broke with the Brotherhood, Abdel-Moneim Abolfotoh.
Ex-Mubarak PM praises ‘glorious’ Egyptian uprising
COMBO - This combination of three photos shows Egyptian presidential candidates, from left, Ahmed Shafiq, Hamdeen Sabahi and Mohammed Morsi. The candidate of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood won a spot in a runoff election, according to partial results Friday, May 25, 2012 from Egypt's first genuinely competitive presidential election. A former prime minister and a leftist were in a tight race for second place and a chance to run against him to become the country's next leader. (AP Photo/STR; Amr Nabil; Nasser Nasser; )(Credit: AP) CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq paid tribute to the “glorious revolution” that toppled Hosni Mubarak on Saturday, a dramatic turn-around for the former regime official who fought his way into the runoff elections by appealing to public disenchantment with last year’s uprising.
Shafiq, the last prime minister to serve under Mubarak, vowed there would be no “recreation of the old regime” as he prepared to face off against Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood in a runoff on June 16-17.
Continue Reading CloseEgypt vote: Brotherhood advances to second round
Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate Mohammed Morsi, casts his vote inside a polling station, in Zakazik 80 Kilometers (50 miles) north of Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, May 23, 2012. On Wednesday morning, Egypt commenced two days of presidential voting after 16 months of interim rule by the Supreme Council of Armed Forces. This election is the first free and fair race since the ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak. (AP Photo/Ahmed Gomaa)(Credit: AP) CAIRO (AP) — The candidate of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood won a spot in a runoff election, according to partial results Friday from Egypt’s first genuinely competitive presidential election. A former prime minister and a leftist were in a tight race for second place and a chance to run against him to become the country’s next leader.
The runoff will be held on June 16-17, pitting the two top contenders from the first round of voting held Wednesday and Thursday. The victor is to be announced June 21.
Continue Reading CloseEgyptians vote to rid nation of autocratic rule
Egyptians head to the polls for the first free elections in almost 30 years
An Egyptian woman looks at clothes next to a poster of Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate, Mohammed Morsi with Arabic that reads, "Mohammed Morsi, for Egyptian presidency," in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, May 22, 2012. The May 23-24 presidential election is the first since last year's ouster of longtime authoritarian ruler Hosni Mubarak. It marks the first time Egyptians will choose their leader in a race overseen by international monitors. (AP Photo/Fredrik Persson)(Credit: AP) CAIRO (AP) — Determined to end decades of authoritarian rule, millions of Egyptians waited patiently in long lines outside polling stations across the nation on Wednesday to freely choose their first president since last year’s ouster of longtime ruler and close U.S. ally Hosni Mubarak.
“I can die in a matter of months, so I came for my children, so they can live,” a tearful Medhat Ibrahim, 58, who suffers from cancer, said as he waited to vote in a poor district south of Cairo. “We want to live better, like human beings.”
Continue Reading CloseEgypt seizes heavy weapons smuggled from Libya
CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian police official says security forces have confiscated dozens of heavy weapons seized from smugglers near the Libyan border.
The official says the weapons include 40 surface-to-surface missiles, 17 rocket-propelled grenade launchers, mortar rounds, automatic rifles and around 10,000 artillery shells.
Authorities uncovered the weapons Thursday in three vehicles near the city of Marsa Matrouh, 430 kilometers (270 miles) northwest of Cairo on the Mediterranean coast. The official says three drivers were arrested.
He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the press.
In March, Egyptian security officials said that thousands of weapons are flooding into the country from neighboring Libya following the country’s civil war.
Egypt says is following lawyer’s arrest in Saudi
CAIRO (AP) — Egypt said on Tuesday it was closely following the case of an Egyptian rights lawyer arrested in Saudi Arabia that has revived long-standing resentment over the treatment of Egyptians working in the oil-rich kingdom.
Scores of rights activists, meanwhile, staged a noisy protest outside the Saudi Embassy in Cairo to press demands for the release of the lawyer, Ahmed el-Gezawi. The protesters chanted slogans against the Saudi monarch, King Abdullah, and the kingdom’s ruling al-Saud family.
Continue Reading ClosePage 1 of 14 in Maggie Michael