The results of the Egyptian presidential elections could be known before an official announcement is made on Tuesday. Unofficial ballot counting which began in polling stations immediately after booths closed Thursday night put Mohammed Mursi as the early frontrunner, followed closely by a pack of four opponents, with the remaining eight candidates out of the picture. What can be said for now is that whoever succeeds ousted leader Hosni Mubarak, the new name, depending on one's vantage point, will be a surprise. Mursi, of the powerful and well-organized Muslim Brotherhood, was not even supposed to contend. He was a late replacement for a more charismatic figure who was disqualified from running because of a past prison sentence. A win by Amr Moussa or Ahmed Shafiq, stalwarts of the Mubarak era, would amaze some who would ask what the purpose of the entire revolution was if not to replace such officials whose names are tainted by their connection to a regime sullied with rampant corruption. Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh portrays himself as a man for all the people but whose former membership in Islamist movements hampers his efforts at trying to be a consensus choice. Hamdeen Sabahi, the only genuine activist among them, is the campaign's dark horse who appeals to disenchanted revolutionary youth sandwiched in between the two bigger blocs of Islamists and ex-regime members. From these five will emerge the eventual winner of an election defining the nation's future course which is rocky to say the least. The next president will inherit a struggling economy, weak security and the challenge of uniting a nation divided by the uprising and its often deadly aftermath. The president's powers are yet to be defined by a new constitution. Islamists tried to control the panel tasked with writing the charter, sparking a backlash that led to the dissolving of the panel by a court ruling. Before dealing with such matters, Egyptians should savor the moment, for the election itself was a dramatic statement. Egypt had not elected a truly democratic leader in its 5,000-year history. For most of his 30-year rule, Mubarak ran unopposed in yes-or-no referendums with rampant fraud written all over them. Even when, in 2005, Mubarak let challengers oppose him in elections, he ended up suspiciously trouncing his nearest rival. The beauty of Egypt's two-day landmark elections was not only that it went off smoothly but that the race was so gripping. Predicting a winner is almost impossible; it is refreshingly wide open and too close to call. No candidate is expected to win outright in the first round. A run-off between the two leading contenders will be held June 16-17 and the winner announced June 21. Until then, a decent 50 percent of eligible voters, or 25 million people, cast their ballot in an election which capped a tumultuous, roller-coaster military-managed transition over 16 months marked by political upheaval and more than 1,000 deaths. But the blood and the bedlam ultimately produced the freest and fairest election in Egypt's history and perhaps that of the Arab world. __
