RSS Feed
May 23rd, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda
It has not been a clean transition of power, and there is not even as yet a
constitution laying out what powers the new leader will have.
Many voters are disappointed with the choice of candidates, even though there
are 13 of them – none would be said even by their supporters to have both
the hoped-for charisma and a detailed plan to rescue Egypt from poverty and
chaos.
But many also seemed to realise this was not such a bad thing – that having a
choice at all was as important as how to exercise it; and that, barring some
new dictatorship, they would have second chances, to vote out the man they
now vote in should he disappoint them.
Some of the young liberals who brought this day about by fighting the police,
their rifles and their tear gas, chose to boycott the vote, complaining it
had become a contest between “felloul” – remnants of the old
regime – and Islamists who did not share their modern values. They also feel
that, whoever wins, the military will not give up its power lightly.
Though there were no official figures, turn-out was reported to be
significantly lower than at the parliamentary elections in December and
January.
The performance of parliament, which often appears to television viewers to be
little more than an argumentative rabble, has been held to damage the
chances of the Brotherhood, which is the largest party.
It may have dented democratic confidence altogether, and certainly far more
voters than last year’s revolutionary fervour would suggest said they were
voting for Ahmed Shafiq, the “felloul” candidate, a former air
force general and Mr Mubarak’s last prime minister.
But most who did turn out thought a boycott a wasted opportunity. “If you
boycott the elections now, when will you participate?” asked Bassem
Mohammed Sayed, 38, an accountant. “This is something we have never
seen before – the first time we have had an election and we don’t know the
winner in advance.”
Mohammed Abdul Aziz, a teacher, said it was a celebration. His main concern
was that whoever won, the choice would be respected. “I think the
election will be fair,” said Omar al-Sioufi, 25, at a polling station
in the middle class Cairo district of Mohandessin. “I don’t trust the
army, but the Egyptian people know how to protest.” No-one thought the
vote would be perfect. There have been several reports of vote-buying,
particularly by the campaigns of Mr Shafiq and Mr Morsi.
There were breaches of an election law banning active campaigning in the two
days of voting, with Mr Shafiq giving press conferences and interviews in
his own cause.
Farouk Sultan, the head of the presidential election commission, said these
two campaigns and that of the “moderate Islamist” Abdulmoneim
Aboul Fotouh would be referred to the prosecutor’s office, though he also
stressed the alleged breaches were not serious.
People often did not know what to do. One complainant to Mr Sultan was an
elderly man whose hand was shaking so much he asked the polling station’s
presiding judge to mark his ballot for him – and then claimed the man had
ticked the wrong box.
Oliga Yusef, 80, coming out of a polling station in Cairo, said: “I
cannot read or write. I asked the man inside what to do, and he said I
should mark whoever I liked – so I ticked a box, but I have no idea who I
voted for.”
By no means perfect, then. But even those who did not know how to vote, knew
why it was important. “I came here for my sons, so that they can have a
better future,” Mrs Yusef said, walking off proudly.
Related posts:
Views: 0
Posted in 
Tags: 
