Election Day, Day One: A Roundup

Egypt Independent

I'm still encountering some Internet access problems at home so I'm not sure if I'll be blogging this evening, so I'm trying to get stuff up during the day.

Today was day one of what is likely to be round one; it would befuddle all us pundits I think if any candidate got 50% and won it in one shot. And there's a second dqy of round one voting. So we won't know much today, except that turnout was high in Cairo (voting hours were extended), less so outside the capital; some violations were reported but generally things were going well.

Live blogs of the day from Ahram Online,  Al-Jazeera,  and Egypt Independent.Blogger Zeinobia also blogged through the day, and also posted some useful stats and explained why she is backing Abu'l-Futuh .

And here's Michele Dunne on the candidates and their prospects. 

A truly competitive Presidential election has been a long time coming, and whether or not the results are what the democracy advocates envisioned, at least one crusader for reform who spent time in jail got some credit at a polling place:


It's been a long time coming. We may not like the results when we know them,but democracy is messy, which is why as Churchill said, it's the very worst form of government, except for all the others.