Egypt offers 'out-of-the-box' incentives to lure electric vehicle makers    Egypt's bourse to launch low-volatility stock index EGX35-LV on Aug. 1    Egypt's FM urges UK to pressure Israel to stop Gaza war    H. Kong's trade volume jumps in June '25    Egypt's anti-drug body launches new awareness phase in Maspero Triangle    Minister El-Shimy pushes for stronger returns, partnerships in real estate, construction sectors    Apparel, textile chambers engage with Chinese delegation to explore investment opportunities in Egypt    Agiba Petroleum starts production from Arcadia-28 at 4,100 BOE/day    Egypt reviews health insurance funding mechanism to ensure long-term sustainability    Obama calls for aid access to Gaza, says 'no justification' for withholding food    Gaza on verge of famine as war escalates, ceasefire talks stall    Gaza crisis, trade on agenda as Trump hosts Starmer in Scotland    Egyptian president follows up on initiatives to counter extremist thought    Indian Embassy to launch cultural festival in Assiut, film fest in Cairo    Egyptian aid convoy heads toward Gaza as humanitarian crisis deepens    Culture minister launches national plan to revive film industry, modernise cinematic assets    Egypt will keep pushing for Gaza peace, aid: PM    I won't trade my identity to please market: Douzi    Sisi sends letter to Nigerian president affirming strategic ties    Egypt, Senegal sign pharma MoU to unify regulatory standards    Two militants killed in foiled plot to revive 'Hasm' operations: Interior ministry    Egypt, Somalia discuss closer environmental cooperation    Egypt foils terrorist plot, kills two militants linked to Hasm group    Egypt's EHA, Huawei discuss enhanced digital health    Foreign, housing ministers discuss Egypt's role in African development push    Egypt reveals heritage e-training portal    Three ancient rock-cut tombs discovered in Aswan    Sisi launches new support initiative for families of war, terrorism victims    Egypt expands e-ticketing to 110 heritage sites, adds self-service kiosks at Saqqara    Egypt's Irrigation Minister urges scientific cooperation to tackle water scarcity    Palm Hills Squash Open debuts with 48 international stars, $250,000 prize pool    On Sport to broadcast Pan Arab Golf Championship for Juniors and Ladies in Egypt    Golf Festival in Cairo to mark Arab Golf Federation's 50th anniversary    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



On the road to democracy
Published in The Egyptian Gazette on 29 - 11 - 2011

CAIRO - Braving bad weather, rain-flooded streets and fears of insecurity, millions of Egyptians on Monday headed to 3,809 polling stations in nine governorates to cast their ballots on the first day of Phase One of the first post-Mubarak parliamentary polls, amid hopes for a speedy transition and a clear resolve on the part of the voters to move ahead to a long-awaited democracy.
Voters formed long queues outside polling stations in the governorates of Cairo, Alexandria, Port Said, Damietta, Kafr el-Sheikh, Luxor, Assiut, Fayoum and the Red Sea.
Some of them were voting for the first time in their lives, in the full certainty that vote-riggers would not be allowed this time to either decide the results of the elections or Egypt's future.
“This is the first time I am sure that the vote will not be rigged,” said Mona Farid, a 43-year-old schoolteacher, waiting in a long queue outside a polling station in the poor neighbourhood of el-Sayyeda Zeinab, southern Cairo.
“This is the first time I am sure that my vote will count,” she told The Egyptian Gazette in an interview.
On the fence round the polling station (a school) behind her, there was a torn photo of Fathi Sorour, a Mubarak crony who made el-Sayyeda Zeinab a no-go area for candidates opposed to the former ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) from1984 until 2010.
This torn photo is a living proof of the sweeping changes that have taken place in Egypt since a popular uprising ousted Hosni Mubarak in February and ushered in new political realities.
Beside what was left of Sorour's photo, a grim reminder of the political monopoly Mubarak and his henchmen imposed on this nation for 30 years, the photos of newer fresh-faced candidates held pride of place.
Some of them are being fielded by the Muslim Brotherhood's Justice and Freedom Party, others by Salafist parties like Al-Nour and Al-Asala.
Ideology, however, was not the main concern for the people who converged in their thousands on this polling station.
One of these was Mohie Reda, a shop owner in his late sixties. He got there early and managed to get a place near the front of the queue. He voted early, as he had to hurry up and open his grocery store round the corner for his customers.
“We are all Egyptians,” Reda said after he'd voted, standing behind the marble counter in his shop. “The most important thing is for us to achieve stability.”
‘Stability' seemed to be the trump card in the electoral process yesterday, as most of the voters expressed their hopes that the new Parliament would be a good step on Egypt's way to a new constitution and also the presidential elections, slated for June next year.
It was also the trump card for the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), which deployed tens of disciplined-looking soldiers, commanded by senior officers, outside each polling station, to quell the public's fears that the elections could turn ugly, as they have in the past.
The SCAF, which insisted on holding the elections on time, also used Air Force planes to fly judges monitoring the vote to and from remote polling stations; after the voting, it also flew the ballot boxes to the vote counting centres.
“These elections will push Egypt along the road to democracy,” said Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr at a press briefing at the Foreign Ministry. “They send a clear message to the world that Egypt is committed to the democratic transition timeline it has set for itself.”
A few yards away from the Ministry, there was a determined atmosphere in polling stations in the poor neighbourhood of Boulaq Abul Ela, where thousands of voters stood patiently in long queues to cast their ballots.
The message was clear but this time on the part of the voters, not on the part of the Egyptian State.
The voters, most of them poor workers and their wives, expressed their pride to be taking part in the elections.
They were echoing Prime Minister-designate Kamal el-Ganzouri's comments, as he said the world bore witness to the determination of the Egyptians to take part in the elections.
This determination amounted to the biggest turnout in Egypt's electoral history. The judges monitoring the vote even ran out of election boxes, according to Justice Abdel-Mo'ez Ibrahim, who heads the Higher Election Commission, a group of senior judges overseeing the elections.
Ibrahim said all 18,536 election boxes set aside for the Phase One of the elections were filled up yesterday. He had to send for an extra 3,000 boxes.
However, he did not say whether extra boxes would be needed today, the second day of voting in the first election phase. But observers say this is likely, as more and more voters are expected to show up to cast their ballots.
Active NGOs participation
While the Higher Election Commission shunned local NGOs from monitoring the vote, only allowing them to watch the process itself, these NGOs sent thousands of executives and researchers to polling stations in the nine governorates of Phase One.
Some organisations had even resorted to exit polls to get an idea of what the election results would look like.
The organisations sent reports to the media commenting on the huge voter turnout yesterday, with some of them describing this turnout as the biggest in Egypt's history.
In Helwan, south of Cairo, some NGOs reported fighting among the voters. In some polling stations, the voters were not allowed to enter, the NGOs reported.
Even with this, some of these organisations described the elections as a “celebration” for Egyptian lovers of democracy.
Expatriates' votes counted
Meanwhile, Egyptian embassies in several world countries were busy sorting out the votes of Egyptian expatriates, who cast their first-ever ballots in the ongoing parliamentary elections at home. Polling stations, held in the embassies, closed at midnight on Sunday, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
Up to 166,000 nationals living abroad, about one-third of whom are in Saudi Arabia, had registered to vote, and the overall turnout was expected to exceed 100,000 voters.
The defunct Mubarak regime had constantly maintained a ban depriving millions of Egyptians living abroad from the right to vote in any election.
The trend was overturned by an administrative court in October and earlier this month Egypt's Justice Ministry agreed to a constitutional amendment to allow expats to vote in their countries of residence.
In Belgium, up to 180 people, out of 290 who had registered, had voted, while the Egyptian General Consul in Vienna, Ahmed Sherif, said yesterday they were counting the votes, according to the official MENA news agency.
Egyptian expatriates' votes were also being counted in Lebanon, Iraq, Nigeria, Kuwait, Russia and other countries, and have already been sorted out in China and Yemen.
"The dream of Egyptians living overseas to take part in determining the future of their country has come through this historical step [allowing them to vote]," Egypt's Ambassador in Beijing Ahmed Rezq told MENA.
It was reported that representatives of the candidates, either parties or independent ones, have been watching the counting.
The results of the vote will not be announced, but dispatched to the Higher Election Commission (HEC) at home, after taking all the necessary legal procedures, a source at the Egyptian Embassy in Abuja stressed. He added that some members of the Egyptian community in Nigeria were present at the counting.
Expatriates cast their ballots in person, covering long distances to the polling stations, or via e-mail.
Amr Emam contributed to this article


Clic here to read the story from its source.