Egyptians vote on second day of presidential election

Egyptians continued to line up outside polling stations in high numbers Thursday, in the second day of voting in the country’s landmark presidential election. Across Egypt voters cast their ballots with a mix of joy and anxiety for one of 13 candidates.

The first day of voting on Wednesday was hailed as largely free of fraud and violence, as voters endured long lines and blistering heat to elect a leader after three decades of autocratic rule.

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Voters and election monitors said they were encouraged by the strong turnout, the enthusiasm among those casting ballots and the orderly way in which polling stations were run. There were numerous reports of minor violations on Wednesday, such as campaigning on Election Day, but no evidence of the type of widespread, state-sanctioned fraud that kept Hosni Mubarak in power for nearly 30 years.

“Egyptians feel like we were born again today,” businessman Osama Abdel, 58, said as he left a polling station in Cairo’s Dokki district after casting a vote. “This is the first time,” he began, then paused before adding, “since the Ottomans!”

Denis Kadima, executive director of the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa, one of the three foreign groups accredited to monitor the election, said early reports from his 33 observers were encouraging. He said that his group had received complaints of “subtle campaigning” at polling sites, which is prohibited, but that he was not aware of serious breaches.

“If things continue the way they are now, this will be a very successful process,” Kadima said. “Everywhere we’ve been throughout the country, it has been peaceful, and things are orderly.”

There is no clear favorite among the 13 candidates. The contestants are as diverse as the voters are polarized about the kind of leader they want after more than 15 months of military rule. The presumed front-runners include secular candidates who played prominent roles in Mubarak’s government and Islamist leaders who were prosecuted under his police-state laws.

‘It’s the most beautiful day’

The idea of a free presidential vote has been greeted as nothing short of breathtaking by citizens of the Arab world’s most populous country, who for decades dismissed elections as mere charades, designed to give Mubarak’s regime a veneer of legitimacy. Many see it as the culmination of an arduous revolt that left hundreds of Egyptians dead and has ushered in a period of military rule in which lawlessness has soared and the economy has imploded.

Few Egyptians anticipated that the presidential vote would be marred by fraud, according to a Gallup poll conducted last month in which 82 percent of respondents said they expected a fair and honest election.

The presumed front-runners include Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, a moderate Islamist; Mohammed Morsi, the candidate of the prominent Islamist Muslim Brotherhood group; Amr Moussa, a former Mubarak foreign minister and head of the Arab League; and Ahmed Shafiq, a prime minister under Mubarak.

Election observers said participation by women appeared to be particularly strong. Jane Harman, director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and a former California congresswoman, said she was moved by a lively debate she witnessed between two female voters.