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Egypt votes in historic election

High turnout in first poll since President Mubarak was toppled
Last Updated 04 May 2018, 04:12 IST

Voters swarmed to the polls in a generally peaceful atmosphere despite the unrest that marred the election run-up, when 42 people were killed in demonstrations demanding an immediate transition from military to civilian rule.

“We want to make a difference, although we are depressed by what the country has come to,” said Maha Amin, a 46-year-old pharmacy lecturer, before she voted in an upscale Cairo suburb.

The ruling army council, which has already extended polling to a second day, said voting stations would stay open two extra hours until 9 pm “to accommodate the high voter turnout”.

The Muslim Brotherhood’s party and other Islamists expect to do well in the parliamentary election staggered over the next six weeks, but much remains uncertain in Egypt’s complex and unfamiliar voting system of party lists and individuals.

Political transformation in Egypt, traditional leader of the Arab world, will reverberate across the Middle East, where a new generation demanding democratic change has already toppled or challenged the leaders of Tunisia, Libya, Syria and Yemen.

Parliament’s lower house will be Egypt’s first nationally elected body since Mubarak’s fall and those credentials alone may enable it to dilute the military’s monopoly of power.

A high turnout throughout the election would give it legitimacy. Despite a host of reported electoral violations and lax supervision exploited by some groups, election monitors reported no systematic Mubarak-style campaign to rig the polls.

“We are very happy to be part of the election,” said first-time Cairo voter Wafa Zaklama, 55. “What was the point before?”

Islamists scent power

Oppressed under Mubarak, the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist parties have stood aloof from those challenging army rule in Cairo’s Tahrir Square and elsewhere, unwilling to let anything obstruct a vote that may bring them closer to power. In the Nile Delta city of Damietta, some voters said they would punish the Brotherhood for its perceived opportunism.

“The Brotherhood has lost more in the past three months than it built in the last three decades,” said tour operator Ayman Soliman, 35, who favours the moderate Islamist Wasat Party.

Nevertheless, the Brotherhood has formidable advantages that include a disciplined organisation, name recognition among a welter of little-known parties and years of opposing Mubarak.

Brotherhood organisers stood near many polling stations with laptops to help people find where they should vote, printing out a paper with their Freedom and Justice Party candidate’s name and symbol on the back.

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(Published 28 November 2011, 20:58 IST)

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