In what the media called the trial of the century, ousted president Hosni Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison for killing of protesters during the January 25 Revolution. The man in the street perceives the verdict as being unprecedented in the country's history, closing a chapter and opening another. But common people raise questions regarding the future and how to make it up for those ‘30 years of impoverishment and neglect' that have weakened the low-income brackets. Mubarak, his interior minister Habib el-Adly and six senior police officers were tried for ordering the deaths of an estimated 850 people who were killed during the Revolution. All were acquitted, save Mubarak and el-Adly. "Allah is the avenger. Who would believe this tyrant [Mubarak] would be lying on a stretcher in the cage, being sentenced to life behind bars? He is a criminal who should die in prison as others like him," Mohamed Saad, a 25-year-old accountant, who took part in the 18-day Revolution that toppled Mubarak last year, told the Egyptian Mail. But how will such a verdict affect the political future of a country trying to make its way to democracy? "Egypt has taken a step forwards and no-one can reverse the course of the Revolution. The coming president, whoever he may be, will think twice before treating the people the way Mubarak did," Saad said. Mohamed Morsi of the Freedom and Justice Party, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, and Ahmed Shafiq, the last premier in Mubarak's regime, are vying for the country's top post. The media portray Shafiq as a representative of the civil state and Morsi as a symbol of an Islamist one. But this young revolutionary believes it is "unfair" to describe Shafiq as being in favour of a civil state. "I have political disagreements with the Muslim Brotherhood. I voted for Hamdeen Sabahi although I'm not a Nasserist. I gave him my vote for the sake of the Revolution,” Saad said. “Shafiq is a military man who believes in a military state, and this country has been under military rulers for 60 years," added Saad, referring to the July 23 Revolution that has been followed by military rule since 1952. Sabahi, who came in third place in the first round of the presidential election last month, represents a socialist mindset as adopted by late president Gamal Abdel-Nasser in the 1950s and 1960s. But 32-year-old Ibrahim Farouq, an engineer, believes Mubarak's regime "cannot be reproduced”, even if Shafiq wins. "I will vote for Shafiq as I dislike the Muslim Brotherhood. But, if Shafiq makes the same mistakes Mubarak made, Tahrir Square will be open for all. He can never risk that now," Farouq said. Revolutionaries believe there will be a setback if Shafiq wins, with the country reverting to square one. Calls for a poll boycott have dominated the social media network Facebook and Twitter. A number of activists, who are calling for a boycott, say neither candidate meets the demands of the Revolution, as they do not represent the spirit that inspired millions in the iconic Tahrir Square a year ago. "I won't vote for either of them. If I voted for Shafiq, I would be betraying the blood of the martyrs. And if voted for Morsi, it would be a mistake," says Ramez Mikhail, a 30-year-old pharmacist. "My family will vote for Shafiq, not because they like him, but because Morsi can never be a better alternative. This has nothing to do with religion. Some of my Muslim friends will vote for Shafiq. "My vote went to Sabahi in the first round. He seems very balanced. My second choice would have been someone like Abdul Moneim Abol Fotouh. The results have been a shock to me and many other young people. The choice now is between the old regime and the Muslim Brotherhood," he adds. Ahead of the second round, Shafiq has vowed to the revolutionaries that he will "give them the fruits of the revolution", saying: "Your revolution has been stolen." Meanwhile, Morsi vows to turn Egypt into a manufacturing hub through 100 national projects, costing $1 billion each. He is playing on the economic failures of the old regime, vowing to realise an economic growth of 7 per cent within five years. "I think the coming four years will be a tough test. The new president will have to meet every demand and solve nagging problems. But we know he cannot solve all the problems. It will take many years to deal with something like unemployment for instance," Mikhail stresses. Unemployment in Egypt is running at 12.5 per cent, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS). But unofficially, unemployment really stands at around 20 per cent, as it even did before the January 25 Revolution.
