Egyptians Vote in First Election

Egyptians turned out in droves on Wednesday to vote in the nation’s first election since ousting former President Hosni Mubarak last year. Fifty million people are eligible to vote. The electorate is divided between Islamists and secularists and leaders of last year’s revolution against Mubarak’s former ministers. The four major frontrunners include Ahmed Shafiq, the former commander of the Air Force and briefly prime minister during the February 2011 protests; Amr Moussa, the former head of the Arab League; Mohamed Morsi, who heads the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party; and Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, an independent Islamist candidate. The new constitution has not yet been approved, and it is unclear what powers the president will have—but the election is still considered a landmark for Egypt.