CAIRO — Egypt’s presidential election, set to be the freest it has ever had, began for citizens abroad Friday after a caustic televised debate between two candidates that produced no clear favorite to lead the most populous Arab nation.

Egyptians who overthrew President Hosni Mubarak as uprisings swept the Arab World last year are savoring the spectacle of politicians competing for their votes and the streets are abuzz with argument over who is the best man to tackle poverty and corruption and uphold their new-found freedoms.

With no obvious winner for now, the fewer than one million expatriates registered to vote in consulates between May 11 and 17 may help swing the election. Recent polls suggest the race is wide open, with many citizens yet to make up their minds.

Expatriates who have registered to vote are a minority among the six to eight million Egyptians who live abroad, mostly in Europe, North America and Gulf Arab states, according to official figures cited by local media.

In Cairo’s cafes and on Twitter, Egyptians swapped impressions of Thursday night’s unprecedented televised standoff between Islamist Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh and Amr Moussa, a former foreign minister of Mubarak.

“If you didn’t enjoy the debate like me, remember that if someone told you a couple of years ago that there would be a presidential debate, you would have thought it was a sci-fi movie,” tweeted Mohamed Diab.

But many viewers complained of an irritable and negative tone in their exchanges that may hand votes to other candidates, such as the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Mursi, Mubarak’s last prime minister, Ahmed Shafiq, and leftist Hamdeen Sabahi.

“Moussa attacks but doesn’t answer questions. He should have proven with examples that he wasn’t part of the old regime,” advertising company employee Mostafa Mohamed said at a cafe in the center of the capital. — Reuters