Human Wrongs Watch
By Johannes Stern (WSWS*), 18 June – A show of mass abstention was the Egyptian working class’s verdict on the first presidential elections in Egypt after the revolutionary ouster of US-backed dictator Hosni Mubarak in February 2011.
**Mohamed Mursi. Photo credit: Marzouk113 | Wikimedia Commons.
In the run-offs over the weekend, Ahmed Shafiq, the last prime minister under ousted dictator Hosni Mubarak faced Mohamed Mursi, the candidate of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood (MB).
Both Shafiq and Mursi are right-wing representatives of the Egyptian ruling class, hostile to the social and democratic aspirations of the Egyptian revolution and widely discredited amongst the Egyptian masses.
No official results and numbers about the voter turnout have been announced yet. However, media reports suggest that the turnout was even lower than in the initial round of the elections three weeks ago.
Ahram Online, the English website of the most widely circulated Egyptian newspaper, wrote: “The biggest story of the day is the apparent absence of voters. The Lawyers’ Syndicate reported that only 15 percent of eligible voters hit the ballot boxes on Saturday. On Sunday, the turnout was even more lackluster.”
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 