Al Jazeera English announces Egyptian election coverage

[Bapun]

With the Egyptian presidential election stirring interest across the world, Al Jazeera English has today announced its plans to capture every crucial moment as Egypt decides who will replace Hosni Mubarak.

The historic election will be held across Egypt on 23 and 24 May 2012. The vote marks only the second presidential election in Egypt’s history to be contested by more than one candidate, and the first presidential election after the 2011 Egyptian revolution.

Al Jazeera English, which recently won a prestigious Peabody Award for its coverage of the Arab Awakening, will station four correspondents across Egypt on the election days to hear directly from voters shaping Egypt’s future.

Award-winning correspondents, Mike Hanna and Sherine Tadros, will report from different polling stations across Cairo. Meanwhile, Jamal El Shayyal will be reporting live from Egypt’s second largest city, Alexandria, with Rawya Rageh providing up-to-the-minute news from Suez.

Sherine Tadros and Rawya Rageh have been stationed in Egypt since the revolution. Indeed, Rawya Rageh’s reporting of the 2011 Egyptian revolution was chosen as one of the Columbia Journalism School’s “50 Great Stories” by its alumni over the last hundred years.

“The presidential election marks an important milestone in Egypt’s transition,” said Salah Negm, Director of News at Al Jazeera English. “This has been a dramatic and historic eighteen months across the whole of the Arab world, and we were there to capture every moment.

"Egypt has an important role to play in the future of the region. We are determined to follow and scrutinize the events on the ground with unrivalled, in-depth reporting – as we have done since the beginning of the uprisings in the country."

Starting from 18 May 2012, Al Jazeera English will also broadcast one special feature package per day until Egypt takes to the polls. The packages will focus on key issues facing the Egyptian people in advance of the election, including: the deteriorating state of the nation’s economy, the relationship between religion and state, and security concerns following the events in Port Said.

The channel will also broadcast a series of vox pops from a number of locations across the country to give ordinary citizens a platform to outline what challenges they would like to see their new President tackle.

Al Jazeera English’s website will also feature a 24/7 live blog covering all the breaking election news gathered by the channel’s dedicated team of journalists on the ground.

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