The two candidates who won the largest number of votes and now face a run-off in mid-June represent two traditional power centers that have battled each other for decades – ousted President Hosni Mubarak’s once omnipotent “secular” security regime that has ruled Egypt since 1952, and the Muslim Brotherhood, the 84-year-old organization that has struggled under-and-above ground to turn Egypt into an Islamic state. The Brotherhood’s Mohammed Morsi (25.3%) and former Mubarak prime minister Ahmed Shafiq (24.9%) won the most votes. Both men have already begun trying to win the support of the third and fourth most popular candidates — leftist Hamdeen Sabbahi (who won roughly 21.5%) and a moderate … Continue reading Judith Miller