A sense of déj� vu has been the overriding feeling for Egyptians over the past month when scenes of massive protests in Tahrir Square, downtown Cairo, and other cities throughout the country over the outcome of the presidential polls. Egypt has been polarised politically as never before. A mishandled election process will undoubtedly kick off even greater division. "The war of appeals has commenced" ran the banner headline of the daily Al-Shorouk. The paper quoted the head of the reformist movement of "Judges for Egypt" led by Judge Zakaria Abdel-Aziz the former head of the country's influential Judge's Club. Al-Shorouk quoted "Judges for Egypt" as declaring that the winner of Egypt's presidential elections was the Muslim Brotherhood's presidential candidate Mohamed Morsi. Al-Shorouk also quoted the Israeli paper Maariv as reporting that the head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) Field Marshall Mohamed Hussein Tantawi as receiving special Israeli government envoy of the Israeli government Israeli Minister of Defense Ehud Barak. Field Marshall Tantawi assured Barak that no matter who is elected president of Egypt there would be no change in the Camp David Accords and the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. Al-Ahram, on the other hand, devoted much of its coverage to the news that ex-president Hosni Mubarak was reported dead and then later declared to have suffered a stroke and was in a coma. "There is much confusion as to whether Mubarak is dead or has suffered a stroke," Al-Ahram's headline banner trumpeted as if in exasperation. As far as the Egyptian presidential run-off results were concerned, Al-Ahram stated on its Wednesday edition that the "next 48 hours will be the most dangerous and decisive in Egypt's history". The paper also paid much attention to the ongoing demonstrations in Cairo and Alexandria protesting the Constitutional Declaration by the Supreme Constitutional Court that both the Lower and Upper Houses of Egypt's parliament are null and avoid. The de facto dissolution of the People's Assembly enraged wide sectors of the population and especially those sympathetic to the Islamist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists. Al-Masry Al-Youm's banner headline read like a suspenseful thriller. "A psychological war over the presidency", the paper described the charges and counter charges of the presidential candidates and their supporters. Al-Masry Al-Youm pointed out that even though Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood's presidential hopeful declared that he was president-elect, that his rival Ahmed Shafik warned that he had won the presidential race by 500,000 votes. Al-Masry Al-Youm also noted that Washington has urged the smooth and swift transfer of power from the military to the civilians. It was clear, the paper said that the United States was in favour of a civilian-run Egypt and was not particularly partial to the SCAF. The head of the Freedom and Justice Party in [the Upper Egyptian governorate of] Sohag, Mohamed Al-Masry, announced that if presidential hopeful Ahmed Shafik is declared winner that it would be the start of nationwide protests and sit-ins and not only in Tahrir Square, Cairo," noted the daily Al-Youm Al-Sabei.
