CAIRO — The two top-rated Egyptian presidential candidates battled Thursday over the role of Islam in the Arab world’s most populous country as they took part in the first televised presidential debate in the nation’s history.
In homes and cafes, Egyptians sat transfixed by a debate that stretched past midnight. It featured Amr Moussa, the 75-year-old former chief of the Arab League, and moderate Islamist Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, 60, a former Muslim Brotherhood member. After decades of autocratic rule, Egyptians will finally have a choice in the presidential election scheduled for May 23 and 24.
Before the debate, moderator Yosri Fouda told viewers, “Each candidate will try to sell his ideas to you, but you are the referee and you are the one who will select at the ballot box and decide the future of the country.”
The differences between the contenders quickly emerged. Moussa, who served as foreign minister in the 1990s under Hosni Mubarak, the longtime president ousted in the January revolution, appealed to Egyptians who long for stability and fear the rise of Islamists. Aboul Fotouh sought to reach out to Islamists, liberals and supporters of the revolution.
He tried to tie Moussa to the unpopular Mubarak government, asking how, “as a member of the past regime that people revolted against, can he become part of the solution? The figures of the past regime were silent on the crimes” committed under its rule, he said.
Moussa denied the allegations. “The regime fell with its men, and I wasn’t part of it. I was a minister 10 years ago,” he said. Moussa left his foreign ministry post in 2001.
Moussa accused Aboul Fotouh of being loyal to the traditional Muslim Brotherhood and its leadership rather than to the nation. “You defended the Muslim Brotherhood and not Egyptians and not the Egyptian people,” he said. “Your opposition was about you and not Egypt.”
To run for president, Aboul Fotouh severed ties with the Brotherhood, which had initially said it would not put forward a candidate. The Brotherhood eventually reversed course, naming Mohammed Morsi to seek the job. News reports said Morsi refused to participate in Thursday’s debate, but his campaign said he was not invited to join in.
The Brotherhood has come under intense criticism lately for breaking promises, dominating parliament and looking out for its own interests.
Moussa also accused his opponent and the Brotherhood of being part of militant Islamist attacks in the 1990s. Aboul Fotouh confirmed that he was a founder of what he described as a peaceful Gamaa Islamiya movement but said he was not responsible for those who split off and committed violence.
Moussa presented himself as someone who would respect Islamic law but not allow for discrimination against minorities or an expansion of Islamic jurisprudence. Aboul Fotouh portrayed himself as a unifier who would apply Islamic law fairly but also limit it to the role that has been spelled out in the constitution for years — that Islamic law is the principle source of legislation.
“The Islamic jurisprudence looks for the benefit of the people,” Aboul Fotouh said.
Moussa dismissed Aboul Fotouh’s claims that he could serve as a bridge between polarized parts of society, saying that the Islamist used “double language. He is Salafist with Salafists [followers of a puritanical form of Islam] and is a liberal with liberals.”
At a cafe in central Cairo, about 200 people watched the debate together on a flat-screen television.
When the debate heated up, the mostly male crowd erupted in arguments until the owner finally threatened to turn the TV off.
Rami George, 29, watched intently and slowly came to the conclusion that Moussa was for him.
“These debates will make my decision,” he said.
Special correspondent Haitham Mohamed contributed to this report.
