CAIRO - It was a day of different calculations. For contenders and their campaigners, Election Day meant an extra effort for canvassing, albeit illegally. For shop owners, it was a tough day too. Fears about potential violence ran deep, mainly in the shopping area in the vicinity of Tahrir Square in central Cairo. A few days earlier, 41 people were killed in a crackdown by security forces on protesters in Tahrir. Expecting the worst on Election Day, many stores there opted to pull down the shutters. But it was a totally different story for the coffee shops located near the polling stations. The long queues outside schools-turned-polling stations encouraged the owners of the coffee shops to set aside their fears about violence and get prepared for floods of enthusiastic, thirsty voters. A heavy police and military presence at the polling stations soon dispelled any lingering fears. "Mint tea, coffee, fresh juices or soft drinks!" shouted the waiters, as they went briskly round their business. They wanted to make up for the months of stagnation that have hit many businesses in Egypt. "Fine-tune yourself and get in the right frame of mind for voting!" cried one café attendant. "Drink the best mazbout [medium-sugar] coffee to make the right choice!" he added humorously, as he arranged a row of chairs for elderly voters to sit on. The man's calls generated instant orders that increased as the queues of voters grew longer. The owner of one coffee shop in a Cairo area, in a fit of lavish generosity, reportedly offered free drinks to the early voters. "Long live free elections! And long live our Army that has forced the outlaws and the faloul to keep their distance!" the man was quoted by the local press as saying, in a derogatory reference to former members of Mubarak's now-disbanded National Democratic Party. In sharp contrast to the deadly violence that marred the pre-poll days, Election Day was quiet and uplifting. On the eve of elections, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the de facto military ruler, vowed the highest standards of security, warning against "any bid to tamper with the voting process". He kept his promise. "If the Army can keep law and order in this admirable way, why hasn't it done so for the past 10 months?" asked one voter, referring to a period of turmoil and lawlessness. "When you've drunk your mint tea, you'll know why!" quipped the waiter.
