Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Live Blogging : Egypt Chooses its president #Egyelections

The polling stations have been opened from 15 minutes yet there are long queues in front of these stations for an hour ago , from 7 AM. Some polling stations have opened , some have not opened yet. The army and police are protecting the polling station.
Here is a photo I took for a polling station in Boulaq Abu Ela.

TV stations like ONTV and Al Jazeera Misr are having special coverage for presidential elections since early hours.
Quick info the biggest voting bloc according to governorates are : Cairo “6 millions” , Giza “4 million” then Sharkia in Nile Delta. We are speaking about 50 million Egyptians choosing their president on two days it is a big thing.
The army including navy forces and air forces are participating in securing in the elections.
The navy forces are security Alexandria today

@9:00 AM

Amr Moussa has arrived to Fatma Anan School Polling station in New Cairo to vote , it is near from his home and he is standing in a long queue refusing to leave his place. He is refusing to speak to the media.

Abu El Fotouh has arrived to Ibn El Nafis school polling station in Nasr City , he is refusing to speak to the media also.

Jimmy Carter has arrived to a polling station in Sayyida Zeinab in old Cairo to observe the elections.
Jimmy Carter by Evan Chill
Queues are longer than you can imagine. People are excited for real.

@9:20 AM 

April 6 Youth got this operation room to monitor the elections, here is a photo for their operation room by Ian Lee.
Al Sharkia governorate's polling stations are reported to be late.
Here is a photo from inside the polling station by dear Rena 

9:30 AM 

Google Egypt celebrates the elections with Google Doodles
Google doodles today
In North Sinai , Al Arish army forces and helicopters are securing the area in Al Arish. There are 11 committees in North Sinai , the number of voters there are 207,906
Here is photo showing famous TV host Hamdy Kandeel in a long queue by Hanan Abdel Meguid . He is going to elect Hamdeen Sabbahi which is not a  big surprise.

Here is the ladies queue in Zamalek by TV host Gamila Ismail.
Friends are telling that there are helicopters flying over in Hadek El Ooba area.

10:02 AM 

There is a noticeable high turn out in several governorates.
Here is a photo showing Amr Moussa waiting for his turn in Fatma Anan school Polling station in New Cairo by Hany Rasmy
There are 38 ministers following up the presidential elections in the government. Field Marshal Tantawy went to inspect a school in Abassiya where some
Abu El Fotouh has issued a short statement :
Today Egyptians will elect a civil servant today. 
Here is a photo for a polling station in Assuit , Upper Egypt by Dr. Sahar Kamel.

@10:51 AM 

Presidential candidates Abu El Ezz El Hariri and Hisham Bastawisi went to vote.
There is a high turn out for voters in North Sinai, specifically in Al Arish , there is noticeable popularity for Muslim brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi in the area.
Ahmed Shafik is holding a press conference. Reports from Christian populated areas whether in Shubra or in Manshit Nasser in Cairo or in Upper Egypt show that the Christian vote is leaning to Shafik.
Shafik is warning.
There are long queues across the country , people sometimes leave due to heat promising to come back either later in the afternoon or tomorrow.
The polling stations will be open from 8 AM to 8 PM.
There are several reports coming in the way concerning Muslim brotherhood practices.
Here is a photo for former PM Sharaf in his way to the polling station from Manal. 
@1:08 PM
MP Essam Sultan reported Ahmed Shafik to SPEC for breaking the electoral silence and holding a press conference.
Contradicting reports about the murder of some police conscript in Rod El Farag populated area.
The Bakery Shop in Zamalek aka TBS is presenting free fresh bakes if you go and show them the ink on your finger. 
By the way not only TBS is offering this , there is an restaurant in Maadi called "Uncle's Sam" who presents hot dogs sandwiches if you show them your ink.
Morsi's campaign issued its first statement for the day claiming that the campaign did not commit any violations but on the other hand there are from other camps !! 
Here is Khaled Ali voting in a polling station in Nasr City by Ahmed Tarek. Ali will get some votes contrary to what you think.

Hamdeen Sabbahi went and voted at a polling station in Mohindessin accompanied with director Khaled Youssef. He said that he will respect the results of the elections. Sabbahi got some good votes from Imbaba. In general his chances are increasing.
Hamdeen Sabbahi by Mostafa Hussein
According to friends Misr Insurance Co. is mobilizing its employees to vote for Ahmed Shafik.
The grand Mufti of Egypt Ali Goma'a has voted , I wonder whom he has voted for ?!

The US ambassador in Cairo Ann Peterson is visiting Polling Stations in Sharkia governroate.
Here is Abu El Fotouh after inking his finger.

Abu El Fotouh is having a tour in the polling stations in Cairo and Giza.
Here is a photo for Amr Moussa after inking his finger

@9:08 PM 

The polling stations have closed its door officially despite the voters who inside the committee were let to vote after 9 PM due to the long queues.
Already the Presidential elections committee extending the voting period from 8 PM to 9 PM due to the high turnout. People showed up in huge numbers starting from 7 PM in front of the polling stations. People showed up in the evening every hot day. It was too hot in the morning.
Thursday is a day off for Egyptians working in the public sector so they can go and vote.
According to estimations we are speaking about 40% turnout today. It is noticeable that the turnout today was less than the turnout in the parliamentary elections. Of course there are two reasons behind this : The heat and the undecided voters class is still big.
Ahmed Shafik was attacked again at his polling station where some angry protesters threw shoes at him. Some are saying that the attackers were the families of the martyrs.
Abdel Moneim Abu El Fotouh's campaign denied the allegations of Presidential elections committee that it violated the orders the electoral silence.
On the ground all the presidential campaigns committed violations but on the tops of the violations list we will find Shafik and Morsi's campaigns , especially Morsi's MB campaign got the biggest share.
I will not speak about speculations and so so now , I am so tired. 

2 comments:

  1. Are you sure Sharkia has the third largest voting bloc? I believe it's Dakahlia.

    Anyway, Governorates with more than 3 million eligible voters, in no particular order, are: Alexandria, Behira, Sharkia, Giza, Cairo and Dakahlia.

    Gharbia had 2.9 million eligible voters in the parliamentary elections. It could've reached 3 million by now, but not sure.

    ReplyDelete
  2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ba3_xaOo-mk

    ReplyDelete

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