(ANSAmed) - CAIRO, MAY 25 - ''Nothing is certain, let alone
sure or predictable, in politics: it is a game of roulette and
you never know where the ball will come to rest''. Ahmed
Youssef, an analyst at the Al Ahram centre for strategic
studies, shows no surprise as he briefs ANSA with unofficial
forecasts of the results of Egypt's presidential vote. They show
Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi and former Premier
Ahmad Shafiq in the lead, while analysts and polls of recent
days had been tipping the two moderate candidates, former Arab
League head Amr Mussa and pro-Islamic Abdel Moneim Abul Fotouh.
''Elections are politics and the results of elections are usually a surprise. In Egypt, as in developed or developing countries, it isn't the manifesto that wins at the ballot box.
But this represents a good start for Egypt along the path to democracy. These elections have been an experience and an experiment: an experience that is not an end in itself but is the start of others, still more positive for this country''.
In Mr Youssef's view, it is not important which candidate wins because, as he stresses, there will always be the street monitoring their performance.
As for the way the elections were conducted, in the analyst's opinion, they were carried through properly, and a turn-out of around 50% should be considered a good one for a country where up to one and a half years ago, a presidential vote would only bring 30% of the electorate out of their homes.
Another analyst from the same centre, El Sayed Yassine, agrees on the turn-out figure, defining it 'excellent'' but disagrees with the idea that the winner's destiny is in the hands of the street. ''Revolutionaries no longer have any right to go to Tahrir because the results have to be accepted, whatever they are. This is true democracy,'' the analyst notes. Shafiq has been rewarded for his policies aimed at law and order. ''Everyone is now longing for a return to a normal life: they want to see the police patrolling the streets and to feel safe at home and at work. That's why they voted for Shafiq''.
According to this analyst, the moderate Islamic candidate who had been tipped as a favourite, Abdel Moneim Abul Fotouh, is now paying for ''trying to please everybody''. ''But he failed to do so in the end. He said he would apply Sharia rules and everyone was frightened. Liberals, Copts and moderate Muslims fled from him''. (ANSAmed).
''Elections are politics and the results of elections are usually a surprise. In Egypt, as in developed or developing countries, it isn't the manifesto that wins at the ballot box.
But this represents a good start for Egypt along the path to democracy. These elections have been an experience and an experiment: an experience that is not an end in itself but is the start of others, still more positive for this country''.
In Mr Youssef's view, it is not important which candidate wins because, as he stresses, there will always be the street monitoring their performance.
As for the way the elections were conducted, in the analyst's opinion, they were carried through properly, and a turn-out of around 50% should be considered a good one for a country where up to one and a half years ago, a presidential vote would only bring 30% of the electorate out of their homes.
Another analyst from the same centre, El Sayed Yassine, agrees on the turn-out figure, defining it 'excellent'' but disagrees with the idea that the winner's destiny is in the hands of the street. ''Revolutionaries no longer have any right to go to Tahrir because the results have to be accepted, whatever they are. This is true democracy,'' the analyst notes. Shafiq has been rewarded for his policies aimed at law and order. ''Everyone is now longing for a return to a normal life: they want to see the police patrolling the streets and to feel safe at home and at work. That's why they voted for Shafiq''.
According to this analyst, the moderate Islamic candidate who had been tipped as a favourite, Abdel Moneim Abul Fotouh, is now paying for ''trying to please everybody''. ''But he failed to do so in the end. He said he would apply Sharia rules and everyone was frightened. Liberals, Copts and moderate Muslims fled from him''. (ANSAmed).
