EGYPT: Some voting in the country's first elections since the ouster of former leader Hosni Mubarak are over seventy years old but this is the first time their ballot has really counted
Record ID:
327784
EGYPT: Some voting in the country's first elections since the ouster of former leader Hosni Mubarak are over seventy years old but this is the first time their ballot has really counted
- Title: EGYPT: Some voting in the country's first elections since the ouster of former leader Hosni Mubarak are over seventy years old but this is the first time their ballot has really counted
- Date: 24th May 2012
- Summary: CAIRO, EGYPT (MAY 23, 2012) (REUTERS) WIDE OF EGYPTIANS WAITING OUTSIDE POLLING STATION IN SAYYEDA ZEINAB NEIGHBORHOOD CLOSE ON SCHOOL SIGN, WHICH READS 'BAHEYA BURHANIYA SCHOOL' POLICE AND ARMY AT SCHOOL ENTRANCE AS VOTERS WAIT TO ENTER WOMEN WAITING TO ENTER POLLING STATION MEN STANDING IN LINE WOMAN REGISTERING TO VOTE VARIOUS OF OLDER WOMAN BEING HELPED AS SHE PUTS BALLOT IN BOX CLOSE ON BALLOT BOX VARIOUS OF EGYPTIANS LOOKING AT LIST FOR POLLING STATIONS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) 74-YEAR-OLD EGYPTIAN VOTER, MOHAMED ABDUL RADI, SAYING: "People are coming out in droves because they feel, like me, that this is the first time my vote has value. For the first time. Before this it didn't matter to me whether or not I came out to vote. The results were predetermined. But now I feel that my vote genuinely counts. My vote has influence." (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) EGYPTIAN VOTER, HEDAYA, SAYING: "I never used to vote for anyone before. I never used to vote. I've only done so twice now - last time [during the parliamentary elections] and this time. We want this country to be great. And we want the country to stand on its own two feet. We don't want an illegitimate ruler to govern us. That's all." SOLDIERS AND POLICE AT ENTRANCE OF POLLING STATION (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) 72-YEAR-OLD EGYPTIAN VOTER, MOHAMED FIKRI MAHMOUD, SAYING: "I've been here for [former Egyptian leader Gamal] Abdul Nasser, I've been here during [former Egyptian leader Anwar] Sadat's time and I've been here for Mubarak. And this is the first real election I've seen. An election! I went into the polling station and nobody asked me why I was there. Nobody told me anything, or told me what I should do, or gave me any hints at all." WOMAN WITH CRUTCH WALKING TOWARDS VOTING ROOM VARIOUS OF WOMEN WAITING TO ENTER VOTING ROOM VOTER HAVING HER FINGER DIPPED IN INDELLIBLE INK VOTER CASTING HER BALLOT
- Embargoed: 8th June 2012 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Egypt
- Country: Egypt
- Topics: Politics
- Reuters ID: LVAC10PT9LRVF80ZLXS8OEH0OWTQ
- Story Text: Elderly voters casting their ballots in Egypt's first elections since the fall of Hosni Mubarak said on Wednesday (May 23) that they felt for the first time in their lives their votes actually counted.
The vote is the first round of an election that pits Islamists against secular figures in a contest unthinkable before a popular revolt swept Mubarak from power 15 months ago.
With no reliable opinion polls, no one knows who will win the presidency, but Egyptians enjoyed the uncertainty after the routinely rigged votes of Mubarak's 30 years in power.
Many in Cairo waited for hours in the hot sun to cast their ballot.
The occasion had special significance for elderly Egyptians who said they had lived through decades of dictatorship, and never thought this day would come.
for the first time he felt his vote counted.
"People are coming out in droves because they feel, like me, that this is the first time my vote has value. For the first time. Before this it didn't matter to me whether or not I came out to vote. The results were predetermined. But now I feel that my vote genuinely counts. My vote has influence," 74-year-old, Mohamed Abdul Radi, said.
"I never used to vote for anyone before. I never used to vote. I've only done so twice now - last time [during the parliamentary elections] and this time. We want this country to be great. And we want the country to stand on its own two feet. We don't want an illegitimate ruler to govern us. That's all," an elderly woman who only gave her name as Hedaya said.
The election is a momentous sequel to Mubarak's overthrow on Feb. 11, 2011.
The military council in charge of a messy and often bloody political transition since then has overseen a constitutional referendum, parliamentary polls and now a vote for a president to whom it has promised to hand power by July 1.
Seventy-two-year-old Mohamed Fikri Mahmoud said that he had lived through three presidents and none had allowed for a real election.
"I've been here for [former Egyptian leader Gamal] Abdul Nasser, I've been here during [former Egyptian leader Anwar] Sadat's time and I've been here for Mubarak. And this is the first real election I've seen. An election! I went into the polling station and nobody asked me why I was there. Nobody told me anything, or told me what I should do, or gave me any hints at all," Mahmoud said.
The frontrunners in the race include former foreign minister, Amr Moussa, Mubarak's last prime minister Ahmed Shafiq, and two prominent Islamists - the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Mursy and liberal Islamist Abdel Moneim Abol Futouh.
Whoever wins the elections faces a huge task to relieve a dire economic outlook and will also have to deal with a military establishment keen to preserve its privileges and political influence. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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