The Center Did Not Hold
1 | EGYPT
Before the vote, enthusiasm ran high for Egypt's presidential elections, the first round of which was held May 23. But the results were not what most people expected. Indeed, for Egypt's liberals and leftists, who drove the popular uprising last year that ended decades of authoritarian rule, they yielded a nightmare scenario. In a race that drew 13 candidates, including a number of moderates, neither of the two initial front runners qualified for the second-round runoff to be held June 16 and 17. The men who did qualify were the two most polarizing...