CAIRO - A few days before the result of the presidential run-off was announced, everything in Egypt was in a mess. The Egyptian street was confused and people didn't know for whom they should vote and who would be Egypt's fifth President. Many of the electorate were not satisfied with either candidate: the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi and Ahmed Shafiq, the last prime minister under the ousted Hosni Mubarak rule. Some of them thought that the Brotherhood candidate was the only hope for the country, while others thought that he was unsuitable at this stage. So while some 26.3 million out of 51 million eligible voters eventually actually made up their minds to cast their ballots, the rest opted to escape from what they considered a difficult choice. "I voted in these presidential elections, as it was the first time for the Egyptians to choose their President," says Mohamed Shehab, who works in telesales. "In the first round, I voted for Hamdeen Sabahi, while in the second I voted for Shafiq, because I can't bow to the Muslim Brotherhood. "I hope that we can live in stability. We have to respect the result, even if we didn't vote for the new President," he adds. Shehab, 35, voted because he needed to feel that he is a human being who has an opinion which the State respects, while he also wanted a better future for his two children. Although it is the first time for the Egyptians to enjoy free presidential elections, the turnout was not as high as expected. In the first round, the turnout was 46.42 per cent, according to the Higher Presidential Elections Commission (HPEC), while it was 51 per cent in the run-off. "I voted for Abdel-Moneim Abul Fotouh in the first round and Morsi in the second," says Mona Salah, a 25-year-old engineer. "I couldn't vote for someone from the old regime, as we needed a new face. In any case, we will judge the new President by how he performs." Mona and her husband, who only got married two months ago, took advantage of the two-day holiday given by the Government to civil servants to encourage voters to take part in the elections. The couple headed to Alexandria where they spent a long weekend. “I voted at my polling station in Cairo couples of hours before the deadline," Salah said. Many other people also went away, exploiting the extra holiday, not bothering to vote at all. "My wife and I spent the two days with our children in Ain Sukhna," says Nabil Ezz, an accountant. Ezz was against the revolution from day one; he thought the revolutionaries should have been patient, as there would have been a new president six months later, in July 2011. Under the pressure of protesters in Tahrir, Hosni Mubarak announced in a speech in January 2011 that he would not run in the next presidential elections and that he had no intention of bequeathing power to his son, Gamal. Ezz was convinced that if Gamal had been elected president, then that would have been the time for the Egyptians to protest. "Anyway, I didn't vote for any of the candidates in the first round or second," adds Ezz, 37. "None of them has what it takes to be Egypt's president. Lena Moustafa was in a very bad mood just before the run-off. She also exploited the two days off to go to Alexandria with her friends, trying to forget all the country's problems. “I am very depressed. The Egyptians didn't launch a revolution to have a Muslim Brother or someone from the old regime, which we ousted last year, elected," says Lena, a 27-year-old housewife. “I want to live in a civil state, that has nothing to do with the old regime or the Islamists. Unfortunately, I feel that our dream of changing the country has gone, so I didn't vote in the second round." Now that the run-off has brought the Islamist candidate to the hot seat, it seems that Lena will have to cope with the idea of ‘accepting Morsi'.
