Braving long queues and longer ballot papers, Nasr City women make their voices heard

In one district of Cairo, voters waited for hours to be able to vote in the historic elections

Standing on the corner of the street, the queue of women waiting outside the Gamal Abdel Nasser School's doors to vote seemed to have no end. But the enthusiastic women didn't seem to mind.
The women were divided into two lines, one for those over 60 years old and the other for those under 60.
“I can't believe we're going to vote,” said 36-year-old Hoda Mansour as her daughter jumped up and down beside her.
“I was sort of sceptical that any change would come after the revolution, but here I am for the first time in my life, waiting to give my voice to someone I want to represent me in parliament,” she said. “It makes me feel like, for the first time, I have a say in the people who govern us.”
The women standing in line discussed the electoral process, who they would vote for and for what reasons.
“I'm not voting for any of the Islamists,” Mansour said.
“No Muslim Brotherhood or Salafists for me. I went to school and worked hard for my degree and job. I don't want to be forced to sit at home and cover my face.”
Both veiled and unveiled women around Mansour nodded in agreement.
Young ladies wearing green sashes reading “Muslim Brotherhood” reminded everyone standing in line to make sure they had their I.D. cards and knew their poll and voting numbers.
Those who didn't know the required data were directed towards an information table set up by the Freedom and Justice Party, to retrieve their information.
A policeman and two army soldiers guarded the school, located in Cairo's Nasr City district.
After standing in line for over an hour, the women began to complain and question why the electoral process had not started.
The policeman informed the crowd that the ballot boxes and voting tickets had not yet arrived from the police station as scheduled.
The voting line began to move around 10 a.m., an hour late.
Upon entering school grounds, army soldiers and military police stood guard to secure the premises and direct constituents towards the polling stations, located on the third floor of the school.
Elderly women who came out to vote were helped up the stairs by soldiers and allowed to skip the queue by other voters.
Lamia El-Guindy, 68-year-old, said she wished they had made polling booths on the ground floor for the elderly but said voting was worth the extra effort.
The elderly woman proudly displayed her phosphoric ink-stained finger to show everyone around her that she had taken part in electing Egypt's first post-Mubarak parliament, something she said she thought she wouldn't live to see.
Inside the room which served as the poll station, voters entered in groups of four, sitting on a desk or standing in a makeshift booth to mark their choices on two pieces of paper, one listing the parties and the second listing those running as singles and as workers.
Each list is long, and El-Guindy said that it took her a long time to read through all the names to find the one she wanted.
The more well-known political figures running in Cairo's Nasr City district are Mustafa Al-Naggar, an active human rights blogger and activist, former general coordinator of presidential hopeful Mohamed El Baradei's campaign, and co-founder of the Al-Adl party; the Muslim Brotherhood's Essam Mokhtar, who was part of the 2005 parliament, in which the Brotherhood won 83 seats in the People's Assembly; Salafist Mohamed Yousry; and Fawzi El-Sayed, who is known for being the man who built Nasr City.
As the first day of parliamentary elections nears its end, constituents in Cairo's Nasr City and Masr El-Gedida districts continue to flock to their assigned voting posts to cast their ballots for Egypt's revolutionary parliamentary elections. At 4 p.m. thousands were waiting in line to vote outside local schools.
“I can't believe it,” El-Guindy said, as tears filled her eyes. “I finally have a voice.”