Election Day Diary - Afternoon

Continued from "Election Day Diary - Noon"...

A while after Hisham el Hefnawy - the business man with the super models - left I saw a voter coming up in the line. He seemed out of place. Somewhat decent-looking. He looked a bit younger than me.. I guessed 19 - 20 max? I was looking for a Nour supporter all day - just out of curiosity so I threw the usual line at him:

"Hello, I am from a neutral organization and I am going to ask you a neutral question. If you prefer not to answer you are ofcourse free to decline and I would understand your decision."

-"Ok" (with a fat grin like I had a cameraman with me from one of those "Answer and Win" tv shows)

"Who are you voting for?"

-"Hosni Mubarak" (bummer)

"Ok thanks.. I am just taking a random poll"

-"What organization are you from?"

We start talking about the organization I volunteered with and the election monitoring and all.. He was cool and he seemed genuinely interested (not asking out of suspicion like the others). Anyway we parted and a I meet him as he came out of the voting committee.

-"They didn't let me vote" (He was saying it like he was reporting a wrongdoing)

We started talking about how he was not registered with that particular voting committee and therefore had to have a voting card. We talked a bit and that was it. A few moments later I see him come back and he says:

-"I want to help you"
"You mean in the monitoring?!"
-"Yeah. I'd like to help you out. I work close by and I came early so I got nothing to do for a while. Is there something I can do for you?" (Ahh, the love of justice at work)
"Yeah sure! Well, first could you find out who told these guys (the NDP guys) to come up all dressed like that?"
-"No probs!"

He dissappears for a while and comes back again.

"They are from the NDP's youth committee. The Secretariets of the NDP youth committee told them to come this way. The Secretariets of the NDP youth committee in Ezzbet El Arab are here too."

Great!

"Could you run a random poll on who these people are voting for? And could you find out of these people are being paid anything to vote?"

-"Sure!"

Dissappears again... Reappears....

-"Almost all the people on this floor are voting for Hosni. Upstairs it's 60% Hosni. Noone is getting paid anything"

We start talking about how it doesn't feel right. How come all these people are voting for Hosni and without getting paid?? What's pushing them? He let's me in on a bit:

-"It's like what goes on from where I come from. I am from Western Tanta. There the Sheikhs of the area tell the heads of families to vote for Hosni. The heads of the family in return tell their family members to vote for that person. You know how it is here in Egypt. The word of a Sheikh or family head is highly respected. The voters won't get much from voting one way or the other so they might as well respect the decisions of the elderly family members and leaders. The same thing is happening here."
"This really happens in Tanta?!"
-"Ofcourse! I know for a fact that it does. My relatives are Sheikhs in Western Tanta."
"Could you give me some names of Sheikhs in Tanta?"
-"No way! That's my uncle! I'm sorry I won't be able to give you his name."
"Yeah sure. I understand."

We talk for a bit and he gives me his name - for the record. He then leaves for work. I felt really good meeting someone like that. A random voter who felt compelled to help out in what little way he could in the monitoring. Despite the fact that almost everyone - me included - feel that nothing minutely drastic is going to change because of a monitoring report.

The time approaches 1:35 pm. Suddenly I hear clapping and cheering and za3'areeet (refer to the next note).

Note: (Za3'areet :- a seemingly impossible sound that is caused by the quick movement of the tongue and has something to do with uvulacoordination. Done by Egyptians -certain talented individuals only, usually women- as a show of joy and celebration. It really sounds like an African tribal shriek. The one they do before sacrificing the kill. We don't have pom poms so we do with what we've got.)

Yes za3'areet. In a voting centre. But then again, we're in Egypt. So what's the deal with the sudden chaos? Mostapha el Salab. Another hot shot millionare businessman in Nasr City. Ceramic tiles businessman, that is. God knows what else he deals in now but that was his main market area. Anyway, Mostapha el Salab is also a member of Parliament. Rumour has it that he won the Parliament seat for the Nasr City region with only 1,000 votes. That's how apathetic we are. So if you have a big family - and a few supporting neighbours - you can win a seat in Parliament... Only thing is that you won't do that because you're apathetic... just like your neighbours. Rumour also has it that he had buses go to some poor areas in Nasr City to collect people to vote for him and then pay them something like 50 L.E. each (8.6 USD!). 50*1,000 = 50,000 L.E. (8,680 USD!) A small price to pay to secure a position in parliament.

Anyway.. here are recordings of a za3'roota from some fine Egyptian kiss-ass woman:

The Recording

Recording: "Weeeerrrreeeeeeeeeerrreeeeeeeeee eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee"
In English: (That's what za3'areet sound like)

Then they started cheering like they were in a Premier League match or something. They started shouting "El-Salab told us... Mubarak is in our hearts" which rhymnes in arabic so they must have thought they made-up a really cool motto and they just kept going on and on and on and on.

The Recording

Recording: "El Salab 2allenaaa.. Mubarak fe 2albenaaaa.. El Salab 2allenaaa.. Mubarak fe 2albenaaaa.. El Salab 2allenaaa.. Mubarak fe 2albenaaaa.."
In English: "El Salab told us.. Mubarak is in our hearts.. El Salab told us.. Mubarak is in our hearts.. El Salab told us.. Mubarak is in our hearts.."

Care for a few pics?

People rushing to greet El Salab like he was the pope or something. Hell I doubt if they would be like that if Al Azhar's Sheikh went there to vote. The guy behind him in the "Mubarak 2005" T-shirt and light green shirt is one of the NDP youth committee members who there there. He told us that he was Assistant Secretary of the NDP youth committee in Ezzbet El Arab. He also hinted to us (in a moment of honesty) that he was receiving money to bring in people. Someone close to him told me he got 100 L.E. from the Shiekh of Ezzbet el Arab to do that. That same person told me that businessmen, like El Salab, would pay the Shiekh money (for the Sheikh's personal use) in return for him to bring in people from his area. Also notice the NDP ninja holding the Registered Voter's List in the back. She is the wife of one of the higher-ranking NDP officials that were present and wearin suits.

More people to greet the millionare businessman, NDP member and Nasr City's member of Parilament, Mostapha El Salab. The NDP guy in green just won't stay off of his back. The NDP ninja (clear in the previous pic) is introducing some voter to El Salab. They would do that often telling El Salab "He used to work for you and got let off. We were hoping Sir if maybe you would be so kind as to find a place for him back we would be so thankful. We would really appreciate that Sir. You know we are greedy for your kindness."

To be continued...