Last night's presidential sparring match in Egypt proved a huge success – at least for the TV companies who managed to spin it out to four-and-a-half hours with a barrage of lucrative advertising.

As for the candidates – who knows? The debate itself began with handshakes but inevitably descended into bickering, with the contenders interrupting each other and continuing to talk off-camera.

Transcripts of the debate, in English, can be read here (part one)and here (part two), along with liveblogs from the Guardian and 
Egypt Independent.

Amr Moussa, having served as Egypt's foreign minister under Mubarak and later as head of the Arab League, sought to present himself as a safe pair of hands – a man who understands how the world works.

Abdel Moneim Abul Fotouh, formerly of the Muslim Brotherhood, countered by offering a break with the past and emphasising Moussa's links with the old regime. Abul Fotouh has stronger credentials in that area, having spent five years in jail while Moussa spent 10 in his splendid office at the foreign ministry.

Moussa, in turn, suggested that a vote for Abul Fotouh would be a leap into the unknown, hinting that his first allegiance was to the Islamists rather than the nation.

Neither candidate scored a knock-out blow. Of the two, Moussa appeared slightly more presidential – which may or may not count in his favour (one comment on Twitter said he looked arrogant).

Moussa also took more risks, deploying religious scare tactics against Abu Fotouh. Whether he succeeded in scaring the voters is another matter. Judging by the large number of Brotherhood members and Salafists elected to the People's Assembly a few months ago, they don't seem too worried about that – though perhaps Moussa was calculating that they are now having second thoughts.

For many viewers, though, the real point of the debate was that it signalled a new kind of politics in Egypt where elections aren't necessarily decided in advance and those who seek high office must give account of themselves.

Last night's debate was a debate with rules – rules that were visibly fair to both candidates. Each contender had two minutes to answer a question while a clock ticked away in the corner of the screen. At one minute and 50 seconds it started to beep and when the time ran out the camera cut away, whether or not the candidate had finished speaking. 

Such is the indignity with which Egypt now treats its leaders and would-be leaders. Ex-president Mubarak, if he were watching, would surely have been appalled.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 11 May 2012.