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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Egyptians prepare for presidential vote


Egyptians sit under a giant poster promoting President Hosni Mubarak, leader of the ruling National Democratic party, in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday.
 (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Daniel Williams Washington Post

CAIRO – On the eve of Egypt’s first multi-candidate presidential vote, under a big white tent on a main Cairo street, none other than Gamal Mubarak, President Hosni Mubarak’s son, was prodding hundreds of electoral workers from the ruling National Democratic Party to get out the vote.

No more than a year ago, this kind of scene was unimaginable: For a quarter-century, the elder Mubarak’s election has been ratified through yes-no balloting in which he was the sole candidate. If the votes did not come, they could always be invented, many Egyptians complained. On Tuesday, they were being organized from phone banks.

“We are taking nothing for granted. We’re taking this vote seriously,” said Mohammed Kamal, a member of the president’s campaign team.

The voter drive was just one of the political novelties that have blossomed in Egypt in the past few weeks in advance of today’s vote. The official 19-day campaign featured inventive barnstorming by opposition candidate Ayman Nour, a lawyer and leader of the small, free-market Tomorrow Party, who pressed the flesh on sweltering trains and in tent rallies and paraded on horseback through Cairo streets.

Another candidate, Noman Gomaa, from the opposition Wafd Party campaigned on the straightforward slogan “We’ve had it.” The Muslim Brotherhood, a large Islamic-based organization that is officially banned from political activity, urged its followers to vote against “corrupt oppressors.” Brotherhood leaders said that meant to vote for anyone but Mubarak.

In all, nine candidates are running against Mubarak, though most are obscure. One is a self-styled fortuneteller. Another is 90 years old.

By all accounts, a Mubarak victory is virtually assured through his control of Egypt’s massive system of patronage.

Just how clean the vote is – and how widely it is accepted by Egyptians – will go a long way toward determining the pace of change that both government opponents and self-styled reformers who back Mubarak say they want. The outcome is also a potential landmark in the Bush administration’s drive to democratize the Middle East as an antidote to extremist groups that preach and practice violence.