CAIRO — The Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate and a veteran of ousted leader Hosni Mubarak’s autocratic regime will face each other in a runoff election for Egypt’s president, according to first-round results Friday. The divisive showdown dismayed many Egyptians who fear either one means an end to any democratic gains produced by last year’s uprising.
More than a year after protesters demanding democracy toppled Mubarak, the faceoff between the Brotherhood’s Mohammed Morsi and former air force chief and prime minister Ahmed Shafiq looked like a throwback to the days of his regime — a rivalry between a military-rooted strongman promising a firm hand to ensure stability and Islamists vowing to implement religious law.
“The worst possible scenario,” said Ahmed Khairy, spokesman for the Free Egyptians Party, one of the secular, liberal parties that emerged last year. Speaking to the Al-Ahram daily, he described Morsi as an “Islamic fascist” and Shafiq as a “military fascist.” He said it would be hard to endorse either in the June 16-17 runoff.
The first-round race, held Wednesday and Thursday, turned out close. By Friday evening, counts from stations across 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.
More than 40 percent of the vote went to candidates who were seen as more in the spirit of the revolution — that is, they were neither from the Brotherhood nor from the so-called feloul, or “remnants,” from the old, autocratic regime.
In particular, those votes went to leftist Hamdeen Sabahi, who narrowly came in third in a surprisingly strong showing of 21.5 percent.
