Disturbing news from Egypt today: Al Ahram reports that candidates from the Mubarak era are on top in the last presidential election polls. Particularly the news that the star of Ahmed Shafiq, Mubarak's last prime minister, is rising fast, is alarming. The man did not even qualify as a law to bar prominents from the Mubarak-period to stand as candidates, was adopted by parliament almost explicitly to stop Shafiq in his tracks. The fact that he was first disqualified and lateron as yet admitted by the commission that oversees the elections, made suspicions rise that he might be the favourite candidate of the military. Scary indeed.
Al Ahram English:
In its weekly poll conducted by the Ahram Centre between 14 and 17 May, Mubarak-era FM Amr Moussa maintained his lead as Egypt's favoured presidential candidate, but fell from 40 per cent of the vote to 31.7 per cent. Moussa's popularity fell by nine points between the latest poll and last week's presidential poll published on 14 May.
Ahmed Shafiq, Mubarak's
last prime minister and long-time air force chief, still held second
place with 22.6 per cent, 2.6 per cent higher than in last week's poll.
Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate Mohamed Mursi, meanwhile, jumped into third place for the first time with 14.8 per cent, outscoring former Muslim Brother Abdel-Moneim Abul-Fotouh by 0.2 per cent. Abul-Fotouh fell to fourth place with 14.6 per cent. Last week, Mursi received only 9.4 per cent of the vote. This suggests
that the Brotherhood candidate is gaining 0.6 per cent daily, according
to pollsters at the Ahram Centre.
Abul-Fotouh continues to fall. Last week, he held third place with17.8
per cent, down from 24 per cent in the previous poll conducted between 28 April and 1 May.
Hamdeen Sabbahi, meanwhile, the Nasserist candidate running on an independent ticket, came in at fifth place with 11.7 per cent, 4.7 percent more than he scored the previous week.
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