What's likely to happen in Egypt?
Apparently presidential runoff elections will be held there in mid June.
In one corner stands Mohamed Morsi, the candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood, who, in step with the Brotherhood-dominated parliament, would move the country closer to becoming an Islamic republic. ... In the other corner stands Ahmed Shafik, a leading member of the Hosni Mubarak regime. A former chief of the air force, General (retired) Shafik is best known for being an efficient minister of civil aviation and Mr. Mubarak's pick to be prime minister in the dying days of the regime. He would try to put the brakes on the Islamist trend.
If I had to guess what would happen I'd probably suggest that the Muslim Brotherhood guy will win - although I'm not particularly enthusiastic about that result. The article gives some suggestion as to why this Shafik guy even managed to get this far in the race:
If anyone epitomized the old regime, it was Gen. Shafik, and he was unapologetic about it, using that status to his advantage. He was the standard bearer for the old regime and a lifeline for the country's Christians who worried about the consequences for them if the country became an Islamic state. As a result, the Christian community voted as one for him, accounting for a large portion of his vote.
The Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper reported Saturday that Tarek al-Zomor, a member of the Shura council of the Salafist Gamaa Islamiya organization, called on Christians to apologize if it is proven they voted collectively for Gen. Shafik.?? ??Mr. al-Zomor said that church instructions directing Christians to vote for Gen. Shafik were a “grave mistake.”?? (This is rather brazen considering it was the Gamaa Islamiya that terrorized Christian communities in the 1990s and only recently renounced violence.)
And, BTW, how enthusiastic do Egyptians seem to be about this whole democracy thing?
the largest single group of eligible voters is those who did not vote at all: 56.7 per cent of registered Egyptians did not cast a ballot in this, an historic first presidential election!