Reply With QuoteApologies! It's 8 pm Cairo time, which I believe is 2 pm Eastern Standard Time.
Google "egypt time zone" -> GMT +2.
Apologies! It's 8 pm Cairo time, which I believe is 2 pm Eastern Standard Time.
This is great: Egyptian voters throwing shoes at Ahmed Shafiq, Mubarak's last Prime Minister, who is running for President despite being a part of the government that cracked down on the protesters and his statements that he doesn't believe Egyptians are ready for democracy:
The audacity he has to run in the elections is a debasement of the revolution.
Our old ballots: Mubarak - Yes or No.
Excellent pics, and that's great to see Shafiq getting his due.
Originally Posted by Kareem
This is great: Egyptian voters throwing shoes at Ahmed Shafiq, Mubarak's last Prime Minister, who is running for President despite being a part of the government that cracked down on the protesters and his statements that he doesn't believe Egyptians are ready for democracy:
The audacity he has to run in the elections is a debasement of the revolution.
Afterwards does everyone wander around and try to find their shoe?
Are ID's required to vote in Egypt or is that considered racist?
"Do you think Mubarak is great, or REALLY great?"Our old ballots: Mubarak - Yes or No.
Yeah, I kind of wondered that myself, like the tossed hats at the academy graduations. Do you buy a special hat for the graduation, knowing you will lose it? Does it cheapen the insult if you pick up your shoe afterwards, or do you proudly walk home from the event barefoot?
Is that real?? You'd think such a phony-ass ballot would cause riots in the streets. Oh waitOur old ballots: Mubarak - Yes or No.
I believe so, it's from a source that's usually pretty accurate.
It's funny, you probably can't because of the crowds. When you go to the pilgrimage in Mecca there's a particularly crowded spot where you throw stones at a pillar that represents the devil, and you always lose your shoes there. There are merchants at the other end of the passage selling slippers, presumably ones that people had lost.
As for your other question, they do check IDs at polling stations to verify you're on the registered rolls of voters for the area, because you're supposed to vote at polling stations that are dedicated to your neighborhood. When I voted I had to switch my registration to reflect that I was now a resident of the Netherlands, so if I had traveled to Egypt during the elections I wouldn't have been able to vote there on election day.
This is an interesting if pessimistic, take on the elections from the big picture down to the latest polling on the candidates by Egypt analyst, Issandr El Amrani:
http://www.arabist.net/blog/2012/5/2...elections.htmlThe electoral process is attracting a lot of media frenzy inside and outside Egypt, and a not inconsiderable (if often mixed) level of enthusiasm among Egyptians, since it is the first election in which the outcome is not obvious to all. No doubt turnout will be high, and hopefully the voting process itself not too flawed since one would think the military regime now in charge can’t afford to blatantly rig the poll. But, globally, we’ll see Egyptians excited about having a real choice before them rather than an obvious outcome, and a real sense of uncertainty about who might win.
That’s pretty much the only positive thing I have to say about the presidential elections, because everything else appears to have been rigged to put an end to a transformation of Egyptian politics that was the hope of the January 25 revolution.
Woke up today to basically the nightmare scenario of these elections - the Brotherhood's candidate Mohammed Morsi is leading with 27.7% of the vote so far, followed by Ahmed Shafiq, Mubarak's former Prime Minister, with 24.6%.
RIP, Egyptian Revolution - 2011-2012.
Well, you never know. And one thing about mass elections after revolutions is that most of the people who vote have little to do with the revolution and thus cannot be expected to always want what the people in the street want - especially when your candidate summary indicates the street probably wasn't all that sure themselves.
Besides, if these elections are legit then what are you saying, that over half of Egyptian voters should be ignored?
No, I do think it's pathetic that the majority of these people supported the revolution and are now voting to reinstate the regime they removed. Why did those 800 people die? Why did we revolt? What was the point?
Anyway, it's not final yet. This is a nail-biting race. Hamdeen Sabbahi is basically tied with Ahmed Shafiq now - Sabbahi has 23.3% of the vote and Shafiq has 23.03%, with the Brotherhood candidate in the lead. So Sabbahi, who was pretty much the only viable revolutionary candidate, could be headed for the run-off, and he did it without being part of any establishment or political group or compromising himself in the campaign. Major props to him.
If it comes down to the Brotherhood vs. the remnants of the old regime though, I will hold my nose and vote for the Brotherhood, regardless of how many showers I'll need to take afterwards.
Soullessly supporting the slightly lesser of two evils, eh? Egypt is officially a Western democracy now. The good news is that now you have decades of conversations to look forward to that start like this: "You know what we need? A third party!"
H.
So, I'll ask the "probably should just Google it" question of Kareem:
If your "nightmare scenario" comes to full flower and Shafiq is voted into office, what does that really mean in terms of implementing policy? It's my understanding that the new constitution will pretty much be written under the new president's term, but will that be a parliamentary thing or is it overseen by the executive?
The constitution was one of the most contentious issues of the transition. Egyptians voted in a referendum to draft a new constitution before the presidential elections, and it's supposed to be drafted by a committee appointed by Parliament and then put to referendum. The Muslim Brotherhood overreached and decided that 50 percent of the committee would be MPs and stacked the committee with Islamists, and it wasn't representative of Egypt's society. Several groups including secular liberals, Al Azhar (the premier Sunni seminary in the world) and the Coptic church all pulled out and boycotted the committee, and it was struck down by the constitutional court. So the President will be sworn in under the Mubarak era constitution that has been amended, but the ruling military council will decree amendments that limit the President's powers until the new constitution is drafted.
Full vote count:
1. Mursi 5,553,097 (25.30 per cent)
2. Shafiq 5,210,978 (23.74 per cent)
3. Sabbahi 4,739,983 (21.60 per cent)
4. Abul-Fotouh 3,936,264 (17.93 per cent)
5. Moussa 2,407,837 (10.97 per cent)
The Muslim Brotherhood will face off with Mubarak's last Prime Minister. The run-off will be on June 16-17.
I'm taking the silver lining view of this. Which is that 75% voted for the candidates of the revolution. We'll do better next time. My vote in the run-off will be unequivocally for the Muslim Brotherhood.
Well, as you know democracy kind of blows, but it's still the best thing going.
If the Old Guard wins will there be blood in the streets?
I think there will be blood either way. In a way, I think the Old Guard winning might be for the best, as the legislature is mostly Islamic. Paralysis might beat sharia law.
Democracy: suddenly everyone's not a big fan anymore.
Truth. I'm proud of Egypt today. Don't become discouraged! The hardest part of democracy is recognizing the legitimacy of your opponents' misguided views.
Hear hear
It takes decades to build true democratic mechanisms in a country, it goes well beyond free votes.
Be thankful that Egypt already has a strong tradition of voting without significant violence. That does, as it has for Egypt, tend to carry over when elections suddenly become meaningful!
Thanks for the encouraging comments guys. I've made my peace with the results because 80% of Egyptians voted for the revolutionary candidates, so hopefully the anti-regime coalition will get its shit together and get out the vote for the Muslim Brotherhood in the second round. Expat voting for the 2nd round will be in a week's time - holy shit, I never got to vote before and now I'm voting twice in one month.
On another note, today is the sentencing in the trial of Hosni Mubarak, which has been rather disappointingly mismanaged by the Prosecution. Unfortunately, burning at the stake is no longer an option, but we'll find out in a couple of hours what the verdict is.
And Mubarak has been sentenced to life in prison, along with his interior minister Habib El Adly, one of the most criminal and brutal officials of the Mubarak era. Justice has finally been served. It's been called the trial of the century by Egyptians, and it's the first time the Arab world has held one of its despots accountable for his crimes.
Sure you want the Muslim brotherhood in charge?
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