Were Egypt's first elections really free and fair?

Early results suggest that two candidates will compete for the presidency in a June run-off, but some observers reported irregularities at the polls

An Egyptian woman casts her ballot Wednesday
(Image credit: Wissam Nassar/Corbis)

Egypt wrapped up two days of voting Thursday in what's being hailed as the country's first legitimate presidential election. The counting continued Friday, but partial results suggest that Mohammed Mursi, the candidate of the once-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, has earned a spot in a June run-off. The battle for the second slot remains tight, with a darkhorse leftist candidate, Hamdeen Sabahi, neck-and-neck with Ahmed Shafiq, a former air force commander and holdover from the Hosni Mubarak era. Islamists have threatened to protest if Shafiq wins, saying his victory could only happen in a rigged vote. Some observers reported irregularities, but former U.S. president Jimmy Carter said the election was "blessed with transparency, an eagerness to participate, integrity, and an overwhelming turnout." Was the balloting as fair as Egyptian leaders promised it would be?

Egypt really rose to the occasion: Egypt's newly won democracy has passed its second big test, says Bradley Hope at the United Arab Emirates' The National. The presidential vote was as "free and fair" as the successful parliamentary elections in November. There were isolated problems, but none of the old vote-rigging. The country's "notoriously bureaucratic institutions" came through, with 14,500 judges supervising nearly 14,000 polling stations and substations — a "remarkable feat."

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