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Egyptians dispel voter apathy after decades
Source: Agencies |
November 29, 2011, Tuesday
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EGYPTIANS turned out in long lines at voting stations yesterday in their nation's first parliamentary elections since Hosni Mubarak was deposed.
The vote takes place amid sharp polarization among Egyptians and confusion over the nation's direction. On one level, the election is a competition between Islamic parties who want to move toward religious rule, and more liberal groups seeking a separation of religion and politics.
The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest and best organized group, along with other Islamists are expected to do well in the vote.
But also weighing heavily on voters' minds was whether this election will really set Egypt on a path of democracy after months of turmoil under the rule of the military, which took power after Mubarak's fall.
Only 10 days before the elections, major protests erupted demanding the generals step aside because of fears they will not allow real freedoms.
Early in the day, voters stood in lines hundreds of meters long outside some polling stations in Cairo well before they opened, suggesting a respectable turnout. Many said they were voting for the first time.
For decades, few Egyptians bothered to cast ballots because nearly every election was rigged, whether by bribery, ballot box stuffing or intimidation by police at the polls. Turnout was often in the single digits.
The election process is a long and unwieldy, stretched over multiple stages, with different provinces taking their turn to vote with each round. Each round lasts two days. Voting for the 498-seat People's Assembly, parliament's lower chamber, will last until January, then elections for the 390-member upper house will drag on until March.
Moreover, there are significant questions over how relevant the new parliament will even be. The ruling military council of generals, led by Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, insists it will maintain considerable powers after the election. It will put together the government and is trying to keep extensive control over the creation of an assembly to write a new constitution, a task originally seen as mainly in the parliament's hands.
Protesters have been demanding the generals surrender power immediately to a civilian government. Some hoped their vote would help push the generals out.
"We are fed up with the military," said Salah Radwan, waiting outside a polling station in Cairo's middle-class Abdeen neighborhood. "They should go to protect our borders and leave us to rule ourselves. Even if we do not get it right this time, we will get it right next time."
The vote takes place amid sharp polarization among Egyptians and confusion over the nation's direction. On one level, the election is a competition between Islamic parties who want to move toward religious rule, and more liberal groups seeking a separation of religion and politics.
The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest and best organized group, along with other Islamists are expected to do well in the vote.
But also weighing heavily on voters' minds was whether this election will really set Egypt on a path of democracy after months of turmoil under the rule of the military, which took power after Mubarak's fall.
Only 10 days before the elections, major protests erupted demanding the generals step aside because of fears they will not allow real freedoms.
Early in the day, voters stood in lines hundreds of meters long outside some polling stations in Cairo well before they opened, suggesting a respectable turnout. Many said they were voting for the first time.
For decades, few Egyptians bothered to cast ballots because nearly every election was rigged, whether by bribery, ballot box stuffing or intimidation by police at the polls. Turnout was often in the single digits.
The election process is a long and unwieldy, stretched over multiple stages, with different provinces taking their turn to vote with each round. Each round lasts two days. Voting for the 498-seat People's Assembly, parliament's lower chamber, will last until January, then elections for the 390-member upper house will drag on until March.
Moreover, there are significant questions over how relevant the new parliament will even be. The ruling military council of generals, led by Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, insists it will maintain considerable powers after the election. It will put together the government and is trying to keep extensive control over the creation of an assembly to write a new constitution, a task originally seen as mainly in the parliament's hands.
Protesters have been demanding the generals surrender power immediately to a civilian government. Some hoped their vote would help push the generals out.
"We are fed up with the military," said Salah Radwan, waiting outside a polling station in Cairo's middle-class Abdeen neighborhood. "They should go to protect our borders and leave us to rule ourselves. Even if we do not get it right this time, we will get it right next time."
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