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NEWS > EVERYONE ELSE > EGYPTIANS GETTING SICK OF WAITING IN LINE TO VOTE
EGYPTIANS GETTING SICK OF WAITING IN LINE TO VOTE
November 28 2011
Cairo, Egypt – When 2011 started few people could have expected the sights we are now witnessing in Egypt. Not Egyptians, not foreigners, no one could have expected that sometime this year people in that country would be lining up in droves to vote, but that is exactly what is happening.
The first parliamentary election since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak has brought a ground swell of voters swarming the polling booths, exerting their will once again over the future of the nation. It is a sight that really only a few months ago would have been unimaginable, but one that is playing out in the streets of Cairo today.
Not everyone is happy about the turnout, however, and most of those people are the voters themselves. Faced with long lines and long waits many have simply gone home, complaining about waiting such a long time when their vote probably doesn’t really matter anyway. That departure has come as somewhat of a relief to security forces who have been overwhelmed with the crush and telling anyone who will listen that they are really just wasting their time lining up.
“I very much wanted to vote but I simply cannot stand around all day waiting to get into the booth. If I do not work then I do not get paid and I simply cannot take an entire day off to cast my vote. I doubt it really matters much anyways and so I leave,” said one local man who stormed off in a huff after waiting three hours and only moving a few steps forward.
Many, especially those at the back of the line, have been doing the same thing. Those at the front of the lines, all across the country, tend to be staying longer seeing their target in sight.
“I’m her to vote and that is what I will do. These long lines will not keep me from voting. I am here until I am able to mark my ballot and make my voice heard. We are all here for that and we will not leave until we are heard,” said a local woman who was camped near the entrance to a polling station. She and a small group of supporters had only moved three feet since staking their claim in the early morning hours.
Similar scenes have played out across the country with many people steadfastly refusing to move from their encamped positions to help move the ling along.
Reports indicate that security forces had forcibly removed some voters who continued to hold up the lines.
“Real democracy is something the people of Egypt are going to have to learn. People in the West grow up with it, are used to is, but the people of Egypt have never really known it and because of that it is going to take a little while to get past the challenges,” said Scrape TV International analyst Gustav Hander. “Things like moving forward when there is a space ahead of you, of staying aware of your surroundings even when you are texting. Those types of things are part of the adjustments you have to make in a democratic society in order for it to function effectively and that is something that will have to happen in Egypt. It will, with time and effort, and patience of course.”
Few people who stayed felt their vote really mattered all that much anyways.
Emil Uliya, International Correspondent
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