Polls Open for Absentee Votes as Egypt Sees Arab World's 1st Presidential Debate
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربيةEgyptians abroad began voting on Friday for their first president since veteran leader Hosni Mubarak was toppled last year, less than two weeks before polling stations open in the country.
They have until May 17 to cast their ballots in embassies and consulates. Voting in Egypt will take place on May 23 and 24, with a rerun in June if none of the 13 candidates wins a majority in the first round.
Absentee ballots can be cast for the run off from June 3 until June 9.
The election should mark the end of a controversial military-led transitional period after a popular uprising ousted Mubarak in February 2011.
Polls suggest that the frontrunners are moderate Islamist, Abdel Moneim Abul Fotouh, and Amr Moussa, a former foreign minister and Arab League chief.
Moussa and Abul Fotouh have squared off in the Arab world's first ever presidential debate, trading barbs over the role of religion and how to bring democratic reform to Egypt.
Egyptians crowded around television sets in outdoor cafes for the four-hour debate, aired Thursday evening on several independent TV channels — a startling new experiment for Egypt after nearly 30 years of authoritarian rule under Mubarak.
For most of Mubarak's rule, he was re-elected in referendums in which he was the only candidate. The last presidential election, in 2005, was the first to allow multiple candidates, but Mubarak was considered a certain winner and campaigning was weak — and a direct debate was out of the question.
The debate, which ran well past midnight, pitted Moussa, who served as Mubarak's foreign minister for 10 years until becoming head of the Arab League in 2001, against Abul Fotouh, a moderate Islamist who broke with the Muslim Brotherhood last year. The two are among 13 candidates competing in the election, due to begin on May 23.
The debate repeatedly turned combative, as the two candidates, each standing behind a podium, were also given time to throw questions at each other.