“Democracy in play” is the term some are using for the general election taking place in Egypt today and tomorrow. 51 million eligible voters will elect a new president. The democratic election is the nation’s first in decades, since the elections during the reign of President Hosni Mubarak were a far cry from a true democratic process. There are 13,596 voting stations around the country.

One of the first voters was Amr Moussa, a former foreign minister, who used the opportunity to meet with voters and shake hands. He told the press that he will accept the outcome of the election because it is the democratic process.

There are other candidates as well, including the Islamic Brotherhood’s candidate and an independent who was ousted from the Brotherhood and whose campaign focused in no small part around his anti-Israel rhetoric. Officials do not believe that any of the 13 candidates will receive more than 50% of the vote and a runoff election is set for June 16th and 17th.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)