May 23, 2012

Today’s presidential election in Egypt is one of happiness and uncertainty for the Egyptian people who will freely cast their vote, in what some are calling the first day in the post-pharaoh era. The journey to the polls has been rife with violence since the February 11, 2011 overthrow of Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s autocratic leader for that past 30 years. One of the 13 candidates on the ballot will assume power on July 1 from the military council, which has been overseeing the tumultuous political transition thus far.

The following photo series traces back to the beginning of the political uprising and ends with today’s new beginning set in motion by 50 million eligible Egyptian voters.

: January 25, 2011: An anti-government protester defaces a picture of Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak in Alexandria, 230 km (140 miles) north of Cairo. Thousands of Egyptians demanded an end to President Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule and clashed with police in what was dubbed a “Day of Rage.” (Stringer/Reuters)

: January 28, 2011: Protesters flee from tear gas fire during clashes in Cairo. Police and demonstrators fought running battles on the streets of Cairo in a fourth day of unprecedented protests by tens of thousands of Egyptians demanding an end to President Hosni Mubarak’s three-decade rule. (Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)

: January 28, 2011: A protester holds an Egyptian flag as he stands in front of water canons during clashes in Cairo. (Yannis Behrakis/Reuters)

: January 28, 2011: A protester stands in front of a burning barricade during a demonstration in Cairo. Police and demonstrators fought running battles on the streets of Cairo in a fourth day of unprecedented protests by tens of thousands of Egyptians demanding an end to President Hosni Mubarak’s three-decade rule. (Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

: January 29, 2011: Egyptians march against President Hosni Mubarek near Egyptian Army tanks in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt. Tens of thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets across Egypt in Cairo, Suez, and Alexandria to call for the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak. Riot police and the Army have been sent into the streets to quell the protests, which so far have claimed at least 38 lives and left more than a two-thousand injured. (Chris Hondros/Getty Images)

: January 29, 2011: Mohamed Sadek, who is from Egypt, but lives in Redmond, Washington, holds a sign comparing the number of U.S. presidents who have been in power while Egyptian president Hosni Mubarakat has been in office, during a rally in downtown Seattle. Several hundred people gathered to show their support and solidarity for anti-government demonstrations in Egypt. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

: January 31, 2011: Army soldiers atop an Armoured Personel Carrier (APC) guard the area near the Pyramids in Cairo. Protesters intensified their campaign on Monday to force Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak to quit as world leaders struggled to find a solution to a crisis that has torn up the Middle East political map. The cabinet has formally resigned, but protesters are seeking a regime change with the resignation of Mubarak. (Yannis Behrakis/Reuters)

: January 31, 2011: A man carries a picture depicting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak as Adolf Hitler during a protest in Cairo. Mubarak overhauled his government on Monday to try to defuse a popular uprising against his 30-year rule but angry protesters rejected the changes and said he must surrender power. (Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

: February 1, 2011: Anti-government protestors wave their shoes, in a gesture of anger, after President Hosni Mubarak announces that he will not seek re-election in Cairo, Egypt. Protests in Egypt continued with the largest gathering yet, with many tens of thousands assembling in central Cairo, demanding the ouster of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarek. The Egyptian army has said it will not fire on protestors as they gather in large numbers in central Cairo. (Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

: February 2, 2011: A supporter of embattled Egyptian president Hosni Mubarek is thrown from a horse during a clash between pro-Mubarek and anti-government protesters in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt. Yesterday President Mubarak announced that he would not run for another term in office, but would stay in power until elections later this year. Thousands of supporters of Egypt’s long-time president and opponents of the regime clashed then today in Tahrir Square, throwing rocks and fighting with improvised weapons. (Chris Hondros/Getty Images)

: February 2, 2011: Fighting and clashes broke out around Tharir Square, between Mubarak supporters and detractors in Cairo, Egypt. The battle raged into the night with pro Mubarak forces, left, setting a car on fire and advancing with corrugated tin shields against the anti regime protesters, right. (Michael Robinson Chavez/Los Angeles Times)

: February 3, 2011: Police try to calm pro-Mubarak supporters shouting at opposition demonstrators in Tahrir Square, seen through the windows of a burnt vehicle, in Cairo. Anti-government protesters said they were more determined than ever to topple President Hosni Mubarak after supporters loyal to him charged Tahrir Square, sparking violence that killed five people. (Suhaib Salem/Reuters)

: February 4, 2011: Anti-government protesters take part in Friday prayers at Tahrir Square in Cairo. Tens of thousands of Egyptians prayed in Cairo’s Tahrir (Liberation) Square on Friday for an immediate end to President Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule, hoping a million more would join them in what they called the “Day of Departure.” (Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)

: February 7, 2011: His face painted in the national colors, anti-government protester Mamoud Tariq, 13, attends a demonstration in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt. Almost two weeks since the protests began, thousands of protesters continue to occupy the square, demanding the resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. (John Moore/Getty Images)

: February 11, 2011: Egyptian anti-government protesters march in the coastal city of Alexandria. At least a million Egyptians took to the streets of cities around the country to demand the departure of President Hosni Mubarak, according to an AFP tally of official and witness accounts. (AFP/Getty Images)

: February 11, 2011: The sun sets on protesters as celebrate inside Tahrir Square after the announcement of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s resignation in Cairo. (Dylan Martinez/Reuters)

: February 11, 2011: Anti-government protesters shake hands with an army officer atop a tank in Tahrir square in Cairo. A furious wave of protest finally swept Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak from power after 30 years of one-man rule, sparking jubilation on the streets and sending a warning to autocrats across the Arab world and beyond. (Yannis Behrakis/Reuters)

: February 11, 2011: Anti-government protesters celebrate inside Tahrir Square after the announcement of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s resignation in Cairo. Egypt’s Vice President Omar Suleiman said that Mubarak had bowed to pressure from the street and had resigned, handing power to the army. (Dylan Martinez/Reuters)

: February 11, 2011: Palestinians celebrate in Gaza City following news that embattled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stepped down after three-decades of autocratic rule and handed power to a junta of senior military commander. (Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images)

: February 18, 2011: A girl attends Friday prayer in front of an army tank during Friday prayers in Tahrir Square in Cairo. Egyptians held a nationwide “Victory March” to celebrate the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule one week ago, to protect the revolution and to remind new military rulers of the power of the street. Hundreds of thousands joined the rallies, which are also a memorial to the 365 people who died in the 18-day uprising, with many Egyptians expressing their intention to guard their newly-won prospect of democracy. (Suhaib Salem/Reuters

: November 18, 2011: Tens of thousands of Egyptian protesters wave national flags during a rally held in Cairo’s landmark Tahrir Square with the aim of pushing Egypt’s ruling military to cede power, 10 months after an uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak’s regime. (Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty Images)

: November 28, 2011: Soldiers maintain order as people wait outside a polling station to cast their votes during parliamentary elections in Alexandria. (Mohamed Abd El-Ghany/Reuters)

: December 17, 2011: Egyptian army soldiers arrest a female protester during clashes at Tahrir Square in Cairo. Soldiers beat demonstrators with batons in a second day of clashes that have killed nine people and wounded more than 300, marring the first free election most Egyptians can remember. (Stringer/Reuters)

: April 6, 2012: An Egyptian man (L) against Salafist candidate Hazem Abu Ismail scuffles with his supporters in Cairo as thousands of his supporters gather nearby to protest against a potential decision to rule him out of Egypt’s presidential election because his mother reportedly held U.S. nationality. Under the country’s electoral law, all candidates for the presidency, their parents and their wives must have only Egyptian citizenship. (Mohammed Hossam/AFP/Getty Images)

: April 8, 2012: The only woman to announce a bid in Egypt’s presidential election, Bothaina Kamel, is seen in Cairo before she announces at a press conference that she had failed to gather the required 30,000 voter signatures that are necessary to register for candidacy in Egypt’s first post-uprising presidential election. Kamel told reporters she would “continue to work to develop the political conscience of the Egyptian people.” (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

: April 26, 2012: An effigy depicting former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the head of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), is seen at Tahrir Square in Cairo. Egypt’s election committee announced on Thursday the list of 13 candidates for the presidential election which will be held on May 23 and 24. The Arabic words read “Tantawi, the right hand of Mubarak.” (Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)

: April 30, 2012: Protesters shout slogans against military rulers in front of Egyptian military police standing guard near the Ministry of Defense in the Abbassiya district of Cairo. Protesters are calling for the creation of a transitional government and for the military not to hold any special status in the next constitution, local media reported. (Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters)

: April 30, 2012: A protester, wearing a Guy Fawkes mask, stands in front of Egyptian military police standing guard near the Ministry of Defense in the Abbassiya district of Cairo. Protesters continued their sit-in after they were attacked two days earlier, which resulted in the death of one person and the injury of 100 others, according to the Health Ministry. Protesters are calling for the creation of a transitional government and for the military not to hold any special status in the next constitution, local media reported. (Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters)

: The 13 candidates for Egypt’s 2012 presidential elections. The election has a first round of voting on May 23 and 24, and is expected to go to a run-off in June between the top two candidates. Top row (L-R): Mohamed Selim al-Awa, Mahmoud Hossam, Abdullah al-Ashaal, Mohamed Fawzi Eissa, Hisham al-Bastawisy and Ahmed Shafik. Bottom row (L-R): Khaled Ali, Hossam Khairallah, Abul Ezz al-Hariri, Hamdeen Sabahi, Amr Moussa, Abdel Moneim Abol Fotouh and Mohamed Mursi. (Staff, Stringer and Handout Images/Reuters)

: May 2, 2012: Islamist protesters and their supporters help an injured protester during clashes with armed “thugs,” after an attack on protesters late Tuesday night, in Cairo. Eleven people were confirmed dead after thugs attacked the protesters demanding an end to military rule after their candidate was barred from this month’s presidential election. (Asmaa Waguih/Reuters)

: May 4, 2012: Protesters take cover as stones are thrown during clashes at Abbasiya square near Egypt’s Defence Ministry in Cairo. Egypt’s army imposed an overnight curfew around the defense ministry in Cairo on Friday after protesters clashed with troops there during demonstrations against military rule and the exclusion of candidates from the presidential election. (Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)

: May 4, 2012: A protester catches a tear gas canister thrown by security forces near Egypt’s Defense Ministry. Protesters threw rocks at troops guarding Egypt’s defense ministry on Friday as thousands marched in Cairo to denounce violence against demonstrators and the exclusion of candidates from the presidential election. The crowd hurled projectiles and insults at the soldiers sent to defend the ministry after 11 people were killed in clashes there on Wednesday, and called for the overthrow of the head of the ruling army council, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi. (Asmaa Waguih/Reuters)

: May 18, 2012: Supporters of Presidential candidate Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, chant during a rally in Cairo. Abul-Fatouh, considered a moderate Islamist candidate, has been trying to gather support from across Egypt’s political spectrum ahead of the presidential vote. (Asmaa Waguih/Reuters)

: May 21, 2012: An Egyptian boy sits outside a coffee shop in Cairo. After six decades under the thumb of men from the military, Egyptians savour the novel experience this week of a presidential election whose outcome no one knows in advance. (Suhaib Salem/Reuters)

: May 21, 2012: People walk near a graffiti depicting the military council using its power against citizens, near Tahrir square in Cairo. (Ammar Awad/Reuters)

: May 21, 2012: Pins featuring candidates for the Egyptian presidency, and Che, await buyers in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt. (John Moore/Getty Images)

: May 22, 2012: Egyptian soldiers listen to a briefing a day before the presidential election in Cairo. The election that starts on Wednesday is the last stage in a messy transition to democracy, overseen by generals who took control after Hosni Mubarak was driven out and have pledged to hand power to a new president by July 1. (Mohammed Salem/Reuters)

: May 22, 2012: An Egyptian man walks in front of a wall sprayed with anti-police graffiti that reads “With a bribe he learn” in Cairo. Egyptian authorities have finally allowed observers of this week’s presidential election to start work, monitoring groups said on Tuesday, too late for them to draw a full picture of Egypt’s first genuine leadership contest. (Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)

: May 22, 2012: An Egyptian woman walks in front of a wall sprayed with graffiti depicting the ruling military council controlling the presidential elections in Cairo. (Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)

: May 22, 2012: A man stands next to graffiti depicting former President Hosni Mubarak and several presidential candidates, at Tahrir square in Cairo. (Asmaa Waguih/Reuters)

: May 23, 2012: A boy looks out of a window covered with posters of presidential candidate Abdel Moneim Abol Fotouh in Cairo during presidential elections. (Suhaib Salem/Reuters)

: May 23, 2012: Soldiers help a man stand up at a polling station in Al-Sharqya, 60 km (37 miles) northeast of Cairo. Egyptians queued patiently to vote on Wednesday, eager to pick their leader for the first time in a national history dating to the pharaohs, with Islamists and secular-minded rivals who served under deposed President Hosni Mubarak heading the field. (Asmaa Waguih/Reuters)

: May 23, 2012: Women line up waiting to cast their vote at a polling station in Cairo. Egyptians began voting freely on Wednesday for the first time to pick their president in a wide open election that pits Islamists against men who served under deposed leader Hosni Mubarak. (Ammar Awad/Reuters)

: May 23, 2012: A woman marks her vote before casting it at a polling station in Cairo. (Suhaib Salem/Reuters)

: May 23, 2012: A soldier stands at the entrance to a polling station as people wait outside in Cairo. (Mohammed Salem/Reuters)

: May 23, 2012: A woman reads the Koran as another one waits to casts her vote at a polling station in Cairo. (Mohammed Salem/Reuters)

: May 23, 2012: Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who is in Egypt with a group from his Carter Center to help monitor the end of the final round of Egypt’s parliamentary elections, waves as he arrives outside a polling station in Cairo. (Stringer/Reuters)

: May 23, 2012: Men protesting against Egyptian presidential candidate Amr Moussa hold posters of their sons, killed during last year’s revolution, outside a polling station in Cairo. (Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)

: May 23, 2012: More voters wait outside a polling station in Cairo. (Mohammed Salem/Reuters)

: May 23, 2012: A man leaves with his donkey after casting his vote at a school used as a polling station in Abo Zabal village, around 35 km (22 miles) east of Cairo. (Asmaa Waguih/Reuters)

: May 23, 2012: An Egyptian dips his finger into the ink after voting at a polling station in Cairo, capital of Egypt. Voters are obliged to dip a finger in permanent ink to keep anyone from voting twice during the presidential elections. (Qin Haishi/Xinhua/Zuma Press/MCT)

: May 23, 2012: An Egyptian man shows his ink-stained finger after voting in the country’s first free presidential election at a polling station in Cairo. (Khaled Desouki/AFP/GettyImages)

: May 23, 2012: A voter looks over her ballot before casting her vote in Egypt’s presidential election in Cairo, Egypt. Some 50 million Egyptians were registered to vote in the first presidential election of the post-Mubarak era. (John Moore/Getty Images)

: May 23, 2012: Egyptians, both young and old, fill out their ballots in Egypt’s presidential election in Cairo, Egypt. Voting takes place Wednesday and Thursday, but could go to a second round June 16-17 if no candidate wins an outright majority of the vote. (John Moore/Getty Images)

: May 23, 2012: A voter walks to cast his ballot in Egypt’s presidential election in Faiyum, Egypt. (John Moore/Getty Images)

With Mubarak gone, Egyptians vote freely for leader
Edmund Blair / Reuters

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egyptians relished their first free leadership vote on Wednesday, with Islamists pitted against secular figures in a contest unthinkable before a popular revolt swept President Hosni Mubarak from power 15 months ago.

With no reliable opinion polls, no one knows who will win the presidency, but Egyptians enjoyed the uncertainty after the routinely rigged votes of Mubarak’s 30 years in power.

“We must prove that the times when we stayed at home and someone would choose for us are over,” said Islam Mohamed, a 27-year-old swimming coach, waiting at a Cairo polling station.

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