Egyptians Go to the Polls to Elect a President

Egyptians are at the polls today to elect their new and first popularly elected president. There are 12 candidates on the ballot -- among them a Muslim Brotherhood leader, the last prime minister of Hosni Mubarak, the former foreign affairs minister and Arab League president, and an Arab nationalist.
Both police and military attachments were in place to guarantee calm, but thee appeared to be no real problems.
The turnout seemed to be good on day one and the polls were kept open an extra hour, but there will be a second day of voting tomorrow.
Results will be announced on the 27th of May and there will undoubtedly be a second round of voting on the 16th and 17th of June to decide the final victor.
On-site Egyptian analysts say the real decision will be between having a retrogressive Islamist president or a stable democratic government going forward.
Some supporters and candidates did not observe the “day of silence” called for during the election and there will be several cases brought before Egyptian courts for those who were out of line.
The new president of the 82 million Egyptians will have his work cut out for him.
Making his job more difficult is the fact that the new constitution is not ready and therefore the duties of the president are not legally defined. In addition, the Egyptian parliament is already in session and the president will have an Islamist Salafist - Muslim Brotherhood majority to deal with.
The new president will need to decide how to increase jobs, restart the economy, rebalance the social structure under which poverty was rampant, and rebuild the moribund tourist industry that is the lifeblood of the Egyptian economy.
So, dear readers, we should all wish the new Egyptian president well and hope that his programs and ability to heal the wounds of a half century of dictatorship and more than a year of sectarian fighting will work.
It is important that Egypt, as the largest and most influential Muslim-Arab country, function and show democratic leadership for the Muslim and Arab worlds.