Top stories from DAWNS Digest.
Egypt Elections: Muslim Brotherhood Candidate Advances to Second Round. But Who Will He Face?
Turnout was high in Egypt’s first real election, over 50%. The Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohammed Morsi is assured to advance to a run-off election. Who he will face is still too close to call. It seems to be coming down to Ahmed Shafiq, a former prime minister and veteran of the Mubarak era and a late surging left wing candidate, Hamdeen Sabahi. “Morsi was in the lead with 30.8% of the ballots so far, according to the independent newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm, which was compiling reports from counters. That is likely enough to put him into the run-off. But the race for second place remained narrow. Shafiq took 21% of the votes so far, while Hamdeen Sabahi had 20% , according to Al-Masry Al-Youm. The Brotherhood said in a statement that Shafiq would be in the run-off along with Morsi.” (USA Today http://usat.ly/KQnrpJ)
For detailed, up the up to the moment vote tally, go here: (al Ahmran http://bit.ly/JWqZYv)
ICC to Try Four Kenyans Behind 2007 Election Violence
An appeals court at the International Criminal Court has rejected a bid by four Kenyan officials who tried to block the court from pursuing the case against them. All paths for these prominent politicians now lead from Nairobi to the Hague. But will the Kenyan government cooperate? “Kenya insists it will cooperate with the ICC, and the suspects have said they will comply with the court, but the government is critical of the war crimes court and supportive of the Sudanese president who has avoided an ICC arrest warrant. Kenyatta and William Ruto, the former higher education minister, are charged with directing mob violence that sent east Africa’s biggest economy to the brink of civil war. The other men charged with Kenyatta and Ruto are the head of the civil service, Francis Muthaura, and radio presenter Joshua arap Sang. Analysts say the electoral hopes of 50-year-old Kenyatta, the son of Kenya’s founding father Jomo Kenyatta, and Ruto, could be damaged if he were to stand trial, which could knock them out of the race if the date is set before the polls. Kenyatta and Ruto have joined forces against Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who leads opinion polls in the presidential race to replace the retiring Mwai Kibaki, followed by Kenyatta. (Daily Star http://bit.ly/JGZGed)