9 AM CLT
Amr Moussa is voting at Fatma Anan school. It is expected that Shafik will vote in the same polling station that is being guarded heavily by police and army forces.
Here is a photo showing men’s queue outside a polling station in Cairo by dear Dr. Ahmed
9.48 AM CLT
Shafik is in his way to vote in the Fatma Anan polling station at the same time Morsi is staying at Sharkia government where he is going to vote in Zagzig , the capital of Sharkia governorate. Today Cairo's temperature will reach to 39 degrees.
Here is a photo from Reuters
They will vote for Shafik for sure .
10:43 AM
Jimmy Carter is reportedly observing the elections at a school in Boulaq Abu Ela , Cairo. The Boycotters campaign is distributing posters and flyers against the elections in the Metro station.
Ahmed Shafik is currently casting his vote with huge security measures , he was attacked in the first stage by protesters.
Here is a ballot card invalidated by tweep Mariam Ibrahim who wrote about Shafik and Morsi “ The military’s dog, the guide’s dog”
@12:30 PM CLT
The presidential elections committee announced that the polling stations will be open till 9 PM.
Ann Peterson visited coupe of polling stations in Haram before heading to Giza’s polling stations.
Morsi voted it in Sharkia then returned back to Cairo to visit couple of polling stations. The two campaigns of Morsi and Shafiq accuse each other of violating the laws…etc.
@1:33 PM CLT
It is boring , so much boring anyhow here are more photos showing the invalid ballots
It is so boring.
@10:57 PM
The polling stations closed it doors at 9 PM. It is not excited anymore because actually we got political crisis without doubt. There is a low turnout thanks to two important facts : People are indifferent and frustrated, they believe Shafik will come and the weather is extremely hot.
Reporters and journalists had tough day in Egypt especially the foreign correspondents because of Shafik’s supporters. Activists also suffered a lot , some of them were detained and released.
Here are photos from today’s elections by Jonathan Rashad
Dear Zeinoubia your apathy does you no justice. I know how you feel, have few more years on me I warrant. However immediate political events make things appear there is always a long term. There is no magic wand and change comes slowly You may recognise the verse in the Quran. "God does not change the condition of the people until they change that which is harboured deep in themselves" We are on a path but it is the greater Jihad (the one against our base impulses) which we all need to engage in. To reach out and create a community that can work together. The prophet said "religion is social interaction" The rules and specifics of sharia for instance, amount to nothing without sincerity. It is how we act and treat our fellow humans. Forget the politicians and look at your fellow egyptians and see where you can promote virtue!
ReplyDeleteBoycotting helps Shafik only. This dictator does not care whether he is elected with 500 votes or 50 million votes. He will claim that he was democratically chosen by the people.
ReplyDeleteIf that guy wins our only hope is that the army will control him.
Sadly it seems to be true (and Amr Moussa said so if I remember this right) that Egypt is not yet ready for democracy. Most Egyptians fail to see that the lack of stability and security was caused by SCAF. It started with the disappearance of police, opening the prisons and continued with attacks by beltagayah. Most Egyptians still don't want to see that this army did never ever win any war and the only victory was done by killing activists like in Maspero.
ReplyDeleteWe all went against Mubarak and failed to see that he was just a puppet. The "REGIME" is the army.
Greatest danger Egypt faces is the democracy that doesn't work, doesn't deliver.
ReplyDeleteParliament was largely seen as unable to deliver on promises: Jobs, lack of security, etc. Regular people completely missed the fact those issues had nothing to do with parliament. Still the lack of improvement was the reason there was no outrage as it was dissolved.
Here in lies the seeds of dictatorship, or sham democracy. In Pakistan many poor people think the army rule would be better than democracy. They are unable to acknowledge that their parties are family mafias, and their honorable army is actually keeping them on power (or undermining the democracy if it tries to take hold). If there were revolution in Pakistan, the people would vote to be ruled by army dictatorship, because democracy is seen as not delivering.
If Egypt's democracy doesn't begin to deliver, people make a conclusion: democracy is the problem, and throw their arms around people like Shafik and SCAF.
Wisest thing would be presidential council, e.g. through referendum if they can get good turnout it could work.
You are so very right. Poverty, unemployment and lack of education is the result of 60 years of army rule! No parliament could not have done anything about this
DeleteWait and see and make the most of what comes out of the poll. Whtever happens, Egypt will not go back to what it was. As for real change, it will have to come through education.
ReplyDeleteI am afraid Shafik wants to bring us back to 1952. We could not fight the army, however, the army could topple Morsy. People don't see this.
DeleteThose polls are rigged anyway. The outcome means nothing.
One thing about Shafik is he is elderly. I can't see him staying in the Presidents seat for too long. Morsi is younger and preferable considering what Shafik has been saying about his plans. The MB won't antogonize the Army they will seek an accommodation as they have shown by accepting the dissolution of parliament which they won in hurried elections.
ReplyDeleteShafik has displayed his ignorance but having gone this far I don't see why the SCAF would want to cause breakdown in the country or see it occur under an incompetent leader. Its important that Egyptians stay united and push for reforms to especially the judiciary, the legal system and improvement on human rights. Those left out of the power structure should form alliances to enable a more representative President to be elected at a later date.
I voted for Hamdeen Sabbahy in the 1st round, with hope that Egyptians could have a president who is brave, honorable, patriotic, who genuinely cares about solving the real problems that plague Egypt and her people, not a demagogue who uses religion, and not the tool of any foreign or local mafia.
ReplyDeleteBut now we have a puppet show to distract us while the predators decide our fate behind closed doors. The two camps are like hungry dogs, dividing up Egypt's carcass between themselves, each trying to get a bit more, but collaborating together to make sure that Egypt will not live, or be free or capable of walking away from them.
Those two understand each other: the presidential elections, just like the parliamentary elections, have been rigged, both in the same way. The MB can't expose the SCAF's rigging of the presidential elections without exposing how the SCAF rigged the parliamentary elections to give the MB their majority.
This morning, before even the second day of voting started, Khairat el Shater was meeting with Sami Anan to negotiate over who will get this or that. Shafiq will be president, and the MB will get the prime ministership.
God only knows what else they're promising each other, and what they've each promised the Americans (and the Israelis, and the Saudis, and the Qataris, etc) while the Egyptian people are busy with their "Ars democrati" out in the stifling heat and the garbage-strewn streets.
Already we've spent LE 2.6 billion that we cannot afford, on a series of "Arses", which always lead to us being you-know-whated.
It's time for us to stop pretending that either of the two candidates represents the "revolution". Neither has any respect for or loyalty to the Egyptian people, only to their puppet-masters. The only question is which one will be harder to get rid of.
I'm voting for Shafiq because although it's true he represents a fascist military dictatorship, the Islamists represent fascist religious dictatorship, which is even harder to shake off, and which will destroy Egypt's identity and possibly lead to its dissolution along sectarian and ethnic lines.
It makes me sick to see the MB exhorting the poor, oppressed, exhausted Egyptian people to be "martyrs" while the MB billionaires plot to make themselves even richer at Egypt's expense, and while the Zionists celebrate, because these contemptible hypocrites and con artists are what the Zionists want the world to see, when they look at Egypt.
I'm voting for Shafiq, also because the MB managed to demonstrate, through their shameful performance in the parliament, that there IS something even worse and more disgraceful than the NDP. And because Shafiq is the only other choice the SCAF has given us, in one "ars" after another. The MB, which has conspired with the SCAF against us, and against the revolution, is not the ally we need to free ourselves from the abusive forced marriage we're stuck in, with the SCAF.
Every vote that goes to the MB will be used as a negotiating card with the SCAF, and to justify oppressing us in the name of religion, nothing else.
I hope that those who voted for Hamdeen will form the core of a real, Egyptian, powerful grassroots movement that will free us once and for all. That will be our way of shouting:
GAWAZ FOUADA MEN ATREES BAAAAAATEL!