Presidential elections were held in Egypt in 2012, with the first round on 23 and 24 May 2012 and the second on 16 and 17 June. To date, these are the only democratic presidential elections in Egyptian history. The Muslim Brotherhood declared early 18 June 2012 that its candidate Mohamed Morsi had won, the first victory of an Islamist as head of state in the Arab world. It was the second presidential election in Egypt's history with more than one candidate, following the 2005 election, and the first presidential election after the 2011 Egyptian revolution which ousted president Hosni Mubarak, during the Arab Spring. However, Morsi's presidency was brief and short-lived. He later faced massive protests for and against his rule, only to be ousted in a military coup in July the following year.
In the first round, with a voter turnout of 46%, vote-splitting between the major moderate or pro-democracy candidates created a center squeeze, leading to the elimination of Hamdeen Sabahi and Amr Moussa (the likely majority-preferred candidates) in the first round. The elections set the stage for the divisions that were to follow, along sharia and secular lines, and those opposed to and those supporting the former political elite. Islamist candidates Morsi and Fotouh won roughly 42% of the vote, while the remaining three secular candidates won 56% of the vote. Candidates Shafik and Moussa held positions under the Mubarak regime and won 35% of the vote, while Sabahi was a prominent dissident during the Sadat and Mubarak regimes.
Following the second round, with a voter turnout of 52%, on 24 June 2012, Egypt's election commission announced that Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi had won Egypt's presidential elections. Morsi won by a narrow margin over Ahmed Shafik, the final prime minister under deposed President Hosni Mubarak. The commission said Morsi took 51.7% of the vote versus 48.3% for Shafik. Morsi was sworn in on 30 June 2012. To date, this is the only presidential election in Egyptian history which is broadly considered to have been democratically free and fair. Morsi's victory also marked the first time civilians ruled Egypt since the 1952 coup.
Rules
The rules for the election were released on 30 January 2012. The election would be held under the two-round system. Candidates had to be born in Egypt to Egyptian parents, may not have held dual nationality and may not have been married to a foreigner. To be nominated, they required the support of 30 Members of Parliament or 30,000 voters. According to the electoral committee, the formal registration process for candidates started on 10 March and ended on 8 April 2012 at 2 pm.
Qualified candidates
23 candidates officially registered to contest the elections. The Supreme Presidential Electoral Commission (SPEC) was expected to release the list of candidates who fulfil the legal requirements and are eligible for the presidency on 26 April.
On 14 April 2012, the Supreme Presidential Electoral Commission (SPEC) announced the disqualification of ten candidates: Omar Suleiman, Khairat El-Shater, Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, Ayman Nour, Ahmad Awad Al-Saidi, Mortada Mansour, Ibrahim El-Gharib, Mamdouh Qutb, Houssam Khayrat, and Ashraf Barouma. Reasons for the disqualifications were not given, but the affected candidates were given 48 hours to appeal the decisions. Abu Ismail, El-Shater, and Suleiman's campaigns stated they would file appeals. All appeals were rejected.
On 23 April, the SCAF ratified the Corruption of Political Life Law (aka the Disenfranchisement Law), which was passed by the People's Assembly on 12 April. The new law stipulated that any individual who served as President of the Republic, vice president, prime minister, or a high-ranking NDP official during the ten years prior to 11 February 2011 (day of Hosni Mubarak's resignation) would not be eligible to run or hold public office for ten years, effective 11 February 2011. The law disqualified presidential hopefuls Ahmed Shafik (prime minister) and Omar Suleiman (vice-president), but did not exclude Amr Mussa.
On 25 April the Supreme Presidential Electoral Commission (SPEC) accepted the appeal filed by Ahmed Shafik against its previous decision to exclude him from running for president. Therefore, a total of 13 candidates were left standing in SPEC's final list. The appeal also requested the new Parliamentary law be brought before the Supreme Constitutional Court to determine its constitutionality.
On 16 May 2012, Mohammad Fawzi Issa announced his withdrawal from the race in support of Amr Moussa. His name however was not removed from the ballot paper as the official date of withdrawal had already passed.
Mohamed Morsi
Mohamed Morsi was the chairman of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), a political party that was founded by the Muslim Brotherhood after the 2011 Egyptian revolution, since 30 April 2011. He was a Member of Parliament from 2000 to 2005.
Morsi received a bachelor's and master's degree in engineering from Cairo University in 1975 and 1978. He received his PhD in engineering from the University of Southern California in 1982. He was an assistant professor at California State University, Northridge from 1982 to 1985. In 1985 he went back to Egypt to teach at Zagazig University.
Kairat El-Shater had been put forward as candidate, but he was excluded from the race. As a replacement, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt fielded Mohamed Morsi, chairman of the Freedom and Justice Party, he faced Ahmed Shafik in a run-off vote on 16–17 June 2012.
On 24 June 2012, Egypt's election commission announced that Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi has won Egypt's presidential runoff. Morsi won by a narrow margin over Ahmed Shafik, the last prime minister under deposed leader Hosni Mubarak. The commission said Morsi took 51.7 percent of the vote versus 48.3 for Shafik.
Ahmed Shafik
Ahmed Shafik officially launched his presidential campaign on 2 November 2011. He was the last Prime Minister appointed by Hosni Mubarak after the beginning of the 2011 revolution in January. He resigned only three weeks after the deposition of the long-term president. Shafik claims to be on good terms with the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.
Shafik was first disqualified in the wake of the ratification of the Corruption of Political Life Law (aka the Disenfranchisement Law), which banned Mubarak-era PMs from nomination. He immediately appealed the decision and on 25 April the Supreme Presidential Electoral Commission (SPEC) accepted his appeal, which puts him back in the race.
Shafik collected 48.3 percent of the vote in the presidential runoff.
Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh
Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, a doctor by practice and a former Muslim Brotherhood figure popular with Egyptian youths, declared his candidacy in May 2011. He was expelled from the Brotherhood for this decision on 20 June of that year, as it contradicted an earlier decision that the Brotherhood would not put forward a candidate in 2011. The Muslim Brotherhood contradicted their initial position on 31 March 2012 when they put forward Khairat El-Shater as the Brotherhood's candidate and Mohamed Morsi as his replacement. Aboul Fotouh is well known for his staunch opposition to both the Sadat and Mubarak regimes, as well as his openness towards people of different political views. He was detained once during Sadat's rule and twice during Mubarak's rule. He promised to appoint a vice-president who is a youth revolutionary and to fill over half of the country's important posts with people under the age of 45.
Despite coming from the moderate-to-liberal wing of the Islamist movement, Aboul Fotouh won the endorsement of the Salafi Al-Nour Party on 28 April 2012.
Khaled Ali
Khaled Ali announced his campaign on 27 February 2012 and applied for election on 8 April 2012 as an independent, with the support of 32 elected officials in both chambers of parliament. At 40 years old, he was the youngest candidate to enter the race. Ali is a prominent Egyptian lawyer and activist, known for his work advocating reform of corruption in the government and private sector and his promotion of social justice and labor rights. Al-Ahram Weekly called him a "legendary anti-corruption crusader". In 2011 he won the "Egyptian Corruption Fighter" award.
Many of Ali's supporters saw him as filling the void left by Mohamed ElBaradei's withdrawal. Ali was not well known to the majority of Egyptians, and even those familiar with him tended to be surprised by his decision to run. Ali's lack of experience as a politician was a concern, and many, even in the revolutionary movement, remained skeptical about his candidacy. Critics argued that he was unlikely to win, and expressed concern that he could split the vote in a way that would sway the election towards representatives of the prior regime.
Socialist Popular Alliance Party and Egyptian Socialists members told Egypt Independent that they are seriously considering backing Ali's candidacy. "Up until now, the situation is unclear. Khaled may be our choice. Some are proposing a potential partnership between Khaled Ali and Abouel Fotouh [where Ali can run as his deputy]," said Marwa Farouk, a member of the Popular Alliance.
Mohammed Salim Al-Awa
Mohammad Salim Al-Awa, an Islamic thinker, declared his candidacy on 14 June 2011. The fact that Al-Awa and Aboul Fotouh belong to the same school of thought have led to press speculation about vote-splitting and the possibility of their uniting behind a single candidate. Aboul Fotouh recognized this possibility.
Hisham Bastawisy
Hisham Bastawisy is an Egyptian judge and the vice president of the Egyptian Court of Cassation. He was one of the leaders of the Egyptian opposition before and during the 2011 Egyptian revolution. He is running for the Egyptian presidential elections as a representative of the National Progressive Unionist Party (Tagammu).
Abu Al-Izz Al-Hariri
Abu Al-Izz Al-Hariri is an Alexandria MP representing the Socialist Popular Alliance Party and The Revolution Continues Alliance. He filed his application on 13 March 2012.
Amr Moussa
When asked about the rumors that he might run for the 2012 presidential elections, Amr Moussa refused to rule out the possibility of running for the office, leaving the door open to expectations. He argued that, "It's the right of every citizen that has the capacity and efficiency to aspire to any political office that would allow him to contribute to the service of his nation". He further stated to the press that the qualities required of the president also apply to Gamal Mubarak, arguing that the citizenship, rights and obligations which apply to himself can also be applied to Gamal. He also expressed appreciation for "the confidence expressed by many people when they talk about his candidacy for the Egyptian presidency, and expressed that the message reached him.".
On 27 February 2011 he announced he would be running for president saying "God willing, I will be one of them."
Hamdeen Sabahi
Hamdeen Sabahi, the leader of the Nasserist Dignity Party officially filed his application on 6 April 2012. He would later run for the presidency again two years later in the 2014 presidential election against Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, although the latter won a landslide victory, in an election described as a sham by 14 human rights groups who dismissed the results as "farcical". They said the authorities had "trampled over even the minimum requirements for free and fair elections", stifling basic freedoms and eliminating key challengers.
Minor candidates
The remaining candidates are:
- Abdullah Alashaal, previous foreign minister assistant, retired ambassador. Authenticity Party nominee.
- Mahmoud Houssam, as an independent with the support of 30,000 voters. President of the Beginning Party.
- Houssam Khairallah, Democratic Peace Party nominee.
- Mohammad Fawzi Issa, Democratic Generation Party nominee – withdrew on 16 May 2012 in favor of Amr Moussa. However, his name remained on the ballot paper as the official date of withdrawal had already passed.
Disqualified candidates
Hazem Salah Abu Ismail
Hazem Salah Abu Ismail is an independent, ultra-conservative Salafi Islamist lawyer and politician.
He rejects the idea of reconciling the religious law of Islam with personal freedom. He announced to make wearing the veil mandatory for Egyptian women in case of being elected. He would ban the consumption of alcohol in public, even for tourists. Abu Ismail advocates the closure of gambling casinos, which are currently reserved for foreign visitors. Tourists wearing two-piece swimsuits should be arrested, according to Abu Ismail. Moreover, he calls for the abolishment of the Shura Council, which is the upper house of the Egyptian parliament.
By 28 March, Abu Ismail had collected 150,000 signatures supporting his candidacy. He was endorsed by 58 members of parliament, the Salafist Scholars Shura Council, and the Salafist Front.
On 11 April, the State Council decided that the Ministry of Interior is obliged to provide documents verifying the nationality of the candidate's mother. Thus, he would fail the premise that candidates, their spouses and their parents must hold exclusive Egyptian citizenship. Abu Ismail denies the ministry's assertion and insists that his mother was exclusively Egyptian. The threat to Abu Ismail's candidacy has triggered protests by his supporters.
As of 14 April 2012, Abu-Ismail had been barred from the election by the Presidential Election Commission. He had been given 48 hours to appeal the decision.
Ayman Nour
Ayman Nour is the founder of Al-Ghad Party, leader of the Ghad El-Thawra Party and former candidate in the 2005 presidential elections in which he emerged as runner-up to the winning President Hosni Mubarak.