AFP

CAIRO THE two front-runners in Egypt’s presidential election have traded barbs in an unprecedented televised debate, framing this month’s vote as a choice between an Islamist fundamentalist or a holdover from Hosni Mubarak’s toppled regime.

Amr Mussa, a former foreign minister and Arab League chief, squared off with Islamist candidate Abdel Moneim Abul Fotouh for nearly four hours late into the night on Thursday.

Egypt’s first ever televised presidential debate, aired on two private Egyptian television channels, ONTV and Dream, came as polls suggest that Mussa and Abdul Fotouh are the leading contenders in the May 23-24 polls.

Eleven other candidates are competing in the presidential election which should mark the end of a tumultuous military-led transitional period since Mubarak’s overthrow in February 2011.

A poll concluded at the end of April by the Al- Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies shows Mussa ahead with 39 percent while Abul Fotouh trails with 24 percent. Other polls show them neck and neck.

The candidates answered questions from two popular television anchors on issues ranging from the traditional topics of health, employment and education.

But the debate took an increasingly bitter turn as they attacked each other’s pasts, with Islamism, identity and affiliation to the former regime dominating the head-to-head.

The pair swapped sharp exchanges, as Mussa criticised his rival’s past with the powerful Muslim Brotherhood, and Abul Fotouh accused Mussa of belonging to an oppressive and corrupt regime under Mubarak.

“You worked for the benefit of one group, the Muslim Brotherhood, not for Egypt as a nation,” Mussa told Abul Fotouh, who quit the once-banned group a year ago.

Abul Fotouh for his part repeatedly highlighted Mussa’s connection to the Mubarak regime.

“When you are part of a problem, you cannot provide the solution,” Abul Fotouh said, stressing that a “symbol” of the toppled regime has no right to lead Egypt again.

Mussa accused Abul Fotouh of wanting to apply Islamic law in Egypt, where the once-banned Brotherhood now dominates both houses of parliament.

The former diplomat also read passages from a book authored by Abul Fotouh which appeared to justify the use of violence under certain circumstances.