Egyptians leap into the unknown

Egypt's revolution will have come full circle today as millions of voters head to the polls for a presidential election, which could radically alter the face of the Middle East.

A year since the toppling of Hosni Mubarak, Egyptians will vote to elect his successor after an interregnum marred by bloodshed, political sclerosis and mutual suspicion among one-time revolutionary comrades.

The poll will be the first genuinely democratic election in Egypt's history, overshadowed by a series of huge questions - not least over who the eventual victor will be.

Opinion polls have tipped Amr Moussa, the former Arab League chief and Foreign Minister under Hosni Mubarak; others have indicated the winner will be Ahmed Shafiq, the man hastily appointed as Prime Minister during the death throes of the previous regime.

Other candidates have also kept their noses in front: Abdel Moneim Abolfotoh, the reformed Islamic radical seen as a uniting "crossover" contender; Hamdeen Sabahi, a leftist firebrand and critic of the Military Council; and Mohammed Morsi, candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood.

"The people of Egypt made the biggest revolution in the country's history," said Emad Hamdy, a member of Hamdeen Sabahi's team. "Now they have won the right to choose their own president."

There is no doubting the fervour with which many Egyptians have taken to the task of electing their new president. City and village squares across the country have filled up with voters eager to watch the various election bandwagons rolling into town.

Whatever the result, the stakes are huge. In the minds of many activists, a victory for Amr Moussa or Ahmed Shafik would be a hammer blow for the uprising - confirmation that the old regime under which both men served has yet to be unpicked.

"Without a revolutionary president, there will be no revolutionary change in Egypt," explained Sally Sami, a campaign co-ordinator for Khalid Ali, the low-flying candidate popular among many young activists.

Moussa supporters reject such sleights: "He left the Government in 2000," said Mohamed Osman. "How can he be with the regime?"

They project their man as the can-do-candidate; a veteran providing a firewall against Islamists such as Mohammed Morsi.

It is a strategy designed to play well with anxious voters who realise that a win for Morsi would cement the Muslim Brotherhood's total dominance over Egyptian politics.

The group already controls nearly half the Egyptian Parliament, and though Morsi has not polled well, the clout of the Brotherhood and its network of influence means his candidacy cannot be ruled out.

Such an outcome would displease liberal MPs and activists, many of whom accused it of trying to strong-arm its agenda on to the committee drafting the new constitution. But it will also mark a reversal of fortunes for a group that was outlawed and whose members have suffered imprisonment and torture.

- Independent