Posts Tagged ‘elections’
Muslim Brotherhood to face Mubarak-era prime minister in Egypt’s presidential run-off
The Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Moursi will face off against Mubarak-era prime minister Ahmed Shafiq in the second round of Egypt’s presidential election, according to unofficial results Friday. A statement issued by the Muslim Brotherhood mid-morning on Friday said the party’s candidate had won, according to their estimates.
Moderate Islamist Moursi is thought to have garnered around 27 per cent, with Shafiq, who was premier for a time under deposed president Hosni Mubarak, securing 23 per cent, according to unofficial independent results.
Liberal Islamist Abdel Moneim Aboul Foutouh and Nasserist/leftist candidate Hamdeen Sabahi tie for third place with about 18 per cent. While former foreign minister Amr Moussa comes in fifth, in counting done by Iyad El-Baghdadi.
Figures show a turnout of around 50 per cent, ranging from 29 per cent in the Upper Egypt governorate of Aswan, to as high as 54 per cent in Suez, according to Al-Ahram newspaper.
The Muslim Brotherhood’s performance in the polls is unlikely to surprise many but Shafiq’s support will be seen as more of a shock.
In Minoufiya, a governorate with a majority population of low-income farmers, Shafiq is thought to have taken more then half the vote, maybe an indication of his campaign’s appeal to stability and security.
Amr Moussa did not win the support he was expected to get in Upper Egypt. Instead the Muslim Brotherhood seems to have won over voters, taking just over a third of ballots, with Shafiq securing 27 per cent.
In the city of Alexandria, experienced politician Sabahi, who claims to defend the legacy of nationalist former president Gamal Abdel Nasser, seems to have topped the polls. While in Suez the picture is more mixed, with Mousri just edging his rivals, and Shafiq coming fifth.
Cairo results are yet to be finalised.
Following early results Shafiq thanked his supporters on Facebook, according to Al-Ahram. He also saluted Sabahi and said he would not be “upset” if the third-placed candidate won, because he is a “patriotic” man.
In an interview on Thursday, Shafiq’s campaign spokesperson Ahmad Sarhan told RFI that he thinks it is unlikely that Egypt’s revolutionary youth will take to the streets.
“Many of the revolutionary youth comes here to the headquarters and talks to him [Shafiq] about the future,” Sarhan said, from the relatively elegant campaign office in the Dokki district of the capital.
“He opened his heart to them [the youth] and tried to listen to them. He told them clearly, the Muslim Brotherhood, they took it [the revolution] away from you,” Sarhan added.
The sentiment amongst youth is likely to be the most significant measure of possible challenges to the results and potential protests. Many see Shafiq as the chosen candidate of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces and representative of the remnants of the Mubarak regime.
Sabahi’s surprise late increase in popularity can be attributed in some part to support from the revolutionary youth. On Thursday his campaign gave RFI the most accurate assessment of the outcome, given Friday’s early results. Putting Sabahi in the top three, the most modest prediction we have received from any of the contenders’ camps.
“He’s been changing position with Amr Moussa and Mohamed Moursi, in some areas. While in others it is between him and Ahmed Shafiq and Moursi,” said Sayed El-Toukhy a member of Sabahi’s campaign committee.
If necessary a second round runoff poll will take place on 16/17 June.
Commonwealth Sec Gen Sharma on G20, Africa and human rights
Kamalesh Sharma, 2009. Photo: UNDP
Promoting the interests of Commonwealth countries was the primary focus of Commonwealth chief Kamalesh Sharma‘s meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday night, ahead of next week’s G20 finance ministers meeting.
Interview: Kamalesh Sharma, Secretary General, Commonwealth
Sharma represents 54 countries across the world, including a number from Africa. The Commonwealth recently observed elections in Zambia and has a team in place for this weekend’s elections in Cameroon. However, there are some criticisms over the Commonwealth’s approach to holding countries accountable for their human rights record.
Tunisian blogger Slim Amamou calls for post-revolutionary new world order
Amamou at L’engagement 2.0, Le Grand Salon de la Sorbonne, Paris
Tunisian blogger Slim Amamou was in Paris on Tuesday to debate the use of social networks during the Tunisian revolt, and the future of politics shaped by online activism. Amamou, the former Tunisian Secretary of State for Youth and Sport, joined four other bloggers who played a key role in the Tunisian revolution for a conference focused on the role technology played in the country’s uprising. The event, hosted by Jeannette Bougrab, the French Secretary of State for Youth and Community, comes as political parties in Tunisia and the country’s electoral commission debate over the timetable for elections. On Monday the Progressist Democratic Party and the Islamist Ennahda movement conceded a possible delay for the vote. Organisers of the ballot would like to see it moved to October.
Interview: Slim Amamou, Tunisian blogger
Congo has to take the lead in November elections, says Crisis Group’s Délétroz
Representatives of the DRC’s electoral commission in Kinshasa, 7 May. Photo: CENI
Anger and consternation dominated the feelings amongst Congolese pro-democracy activists at a meeting with representatives from the French foreign ministry in Paris on Monday. During discussions about the Democratic Republic of Congo’s 28th November polls, three themed round tables focused on the electoral process, security, justice and impunity. There are worries that the government is not ready to improve on 2006’s dismal voting conditions, and many Congolese are unhappy with French support for elections that they already see as flawed.
Interview: Alain Délétroz, Vice President, International Crisis Group
EU to give five million euros for Guinea election
EU Commissioner Piebalgs on the Forécariah bridge, 100 kilometres east of Conakry, 7 May 2011
The European Union is to provide five million euros to help Guinea run a delayed general election. Wrapping up his two-day visit to Guinea on Saturday the European Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs told RFI that support for the country’s parliamentary elections is “crucial” to avoid future ethnic violence.
“Elections are crucial because countries in Africa have a lot of tribal history and it is very difficult to find any other method to avoid violence and poor representation of each and every ethnic group,” Piebalgs says.
Guinea has not had a legislature since 2008 when it was dissolved by former military junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara. A 155-member National Transition Council has been acting in place of parliament since February 2010. Read the rest of this entry »
Successful Nigerian polls will echo across Africa, says Kufuor
John Kufuor. Photo: Gregory Jones
A well-organised vote as Nigerian voters go to the polls this Saturday would “resound to the good of all of Africa”, according to John Kufuor, the head of the African Union election observation mission in Nigeria, and former Ghanaian president. Kufuor spoke to RFI about what the mission has observed in the days leading up to the presidential vote.
Interview: John Kufuor, head of the AU election observation mission
Egyptian revolt: the aftermath
Mohammed, student from Menoufia
The week after the fall of former president Hosni Mubarak was full of joy and optimism for the Egyptian people. But there was also concern whether the military would fulfill all their promises, the economy would get back on track, workers would start to get a fair deal and women would enjoy the same equality as men. This series of reports and interviews from Cairo for Radio France Internationale explores the hopes and dreams of the Egyptian people immediately after the end of 29 years of dictatorship.
Read the rest of this entry »
Zimbabwe – MDC appeals to France for election support
Zimbabwe Prime Minister and MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai, June 2009, CC licence: Nick-Clegg
In an exclusive interview, Zimbabwe’s Movement for Democratic Change spokesperson Nelson Chamisa told RFI on Tuesday that they will ask for help in organising elections which President Robert Mugabe has called for by the middle of 2011. Despite not having a new constitution the MDC is happy with, they have come up with what they call a “stopgap measure”.
