Election Day Diary - Undercover @ Refaa' El Tahtawy

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

After the Hishem el Hefnawy and Mostapha el Salab circuses... things started to cool down a bit.. The numbers of loaded masses were in continuous arrival but alot of them weren't able to vote because their names weren't registered and they didn't have voting cards. I caught a glimpse of another decent-looking guy .. he seemd in the early 30's.. something like that... He had asked me before what I was doing so he already had an idea of the whole election-monitoring issue.. I went up to him:

"Hi.. Did you get to vote?"

(He didn't seem interested in talking and seemed to be in a hurry)

-"What do you want? You want offenses? There's nothing here to note.. If you want offenses go to Refaa' El Tahtawy... The real offenses are there... They don't check names.. They don't use ink.. it's a real circus there"
(Finally something interesting! But I was slow in understanding that Refaa' El Tahtawy was actually a school and not a person...)
"Really?! Can you explain? What happened exactly? What did you see??"
-"Go and see for yourself!"
"Yeah I will but just give me a heads-up on what to expect? What happened? What did you see?"

The guy TOTALLY ignores me and just hurries off! What the hell?! Fucking bastard! Anyway so I'm still thinking that Refaa' El Tahtawy is some guy who voted in the committee I was monitoring. Must be a hot shot or something because the guy was talking like he was pretty famous! He said he didn't use any ink.. So I run around like a madman looking for someone without an ink mark on their fingers. I decide if he's a famous guy maybe I could ask someone around.. they would probably know him.. I'm not from around here. So I go up to one of the NDP guys (we've become pretty friendly with one another):

"Hey do you know someone called Refaa' El Tahtawy?"
-"Refaa' El Tahtawy? Hmm... That's a school isn't it?"
"No. No. Someone who voted here. Isn't there a famous person called Refaa' El Tahtawy?"
-"Yes Ofcourse! But he's been dead a long long time ago! Maybe you mean the school"
"Hmm No. Anyway thanks."

I go to one of my colleagues and he doesn't know who Refaa' el Tahtawy is either. Oh well.. whatever.

The NDP guys started becoming friendly with me. They told me their names, and basically helped me out with the names of all the officials that were around. They weren't doing that out of support to the monitoring. They were just being friendly and its not like names are confidential or anything. They used to check up with me from time to time on how many people had voted. They seemed to have started counting but gave up in the middle since it was kinda tiresome and they saw that I was doing a fairly honest job of counting myself.. so why duplicate the work? They would throw lines like "Only 300?! Come on man! Lighten up your hands a bit man!" (That's something like saying: don't be so strict.. add a few hundred more.. noone will notice!) I'd tell him "Just that?! How much do you want? 3,000? 3,000,000?" and would just laugh it off. I didn't add a single count ofcourse. And in anycase the counting was just a check to make sure those heading the committee weren't playing around with the uncast ballot cards. It's not like I had the official numbers or anything. It didn't mean that if I increased the number to 3,000 I would have actually increased the official number of voters who voted in the committee. It was just something to compare the official results to. If he really wanted an increase in votes he'd have to tamper with the official results.. not my humble powerless pretty-much-useless count. They'd offer me cigarettes too. Not like a bribe or anything. Just keeping it cool with me. And hell man I think I kinda deserved it. If I ever missed someone who got out of the committee and I hadn't noticed his finger, I would practically run up to him and ask him if he'd voted or not.

"Ok thanks. Just counting the voters thats all"

I think the NDP guys noticed that. I mean I could have just ignored the guy and not put much effort in trying to find out. But I didn't. And I think it helped break the ice a bit. They were more open with me than my other colleagues and respected the effort.

At around 3 or4 pm a few other colleagues showed up. A guy who was a law student, some guy who seemed to some with the law student, a chick and some guy with the chick. The law student told me he heard that some serious offenses had happened in Refaa' El Tahtawy school.

-"I've heard the place there is a mess! They say it's too dangerous for us"
"So it IS a school! Some voter told me to go there and check for some offenses but I didn't understand what he was talking about"

Hmmm.... I started wondering whether that's where I really should be. One of my colleagues then introduces me to the Al Ghad and Al Wafd representatives. The Al Wafd representative looked smart. He was maybe around 22 or something but with this kinda of prestige about him.

-"Al Wafd. Aristocratic" (commented on of my colleagues)

The Al Ghad representative was maybe 24?25? He was a bit chubby and wide. He seemed kinda silly actually. In a goofy way. But he was one of those know-it-all people. Other than that he was ok.

So anyway I talk to the Al Wafd representative and we start talking about the situation in Refaa' El Tahtawy.

-"Yeah I heard about that too! We decided it was too dangerous for our representatives to go there and just left that area"

Damn. Something serious must be going on there. One of my colleagues was talking on the phone to the law student:

-"Ok but take care.. Keep your distance and no need for photos. It's too dangerous"
"He's going to Refaa' El Tahtawy??"
(still on the phone)-"Yeah he is"
"Ok then tell him to hold on! I'm wanna go too"

I hand one of the chicks my stuff and tell her to continue the counting. I meet up the law student at the entrance of the polling station and we take his car. There was another guy with him too.

It took us a while to actually find out in which area the school was in. The area seemed ok. I mean it's in a not too bad part of Nasr City. And the roads are main roads. What could possibly go wrong here? Then when we actually reached the school we found out that the school was situated in a hidden area with bashed up side roads leading to it. The area looked really pathetic with bashed up walls like there was a war that I didn't know about. We circled the school from a distance and noticed a large amount of police officers and police trucks at the entrance. I didn't know whether they were here to contain the trouble or they were the ones causing it. We parked a little way away and started walking to the school. We passed the officers without any problem. Other people were coming in too so no problem there. We entered the school and quickly guessed where the voting was taking place. It was a hall at one side of the school. There was something like 3 or 4 committees in the hall. Each committe simply composed of a few men sitting at a desk at one side of the hall with ballot boxes beside them. It kinda reminded me of the parent-teacher meetings we had at school where some of the non-class-teachers (i.e. religion, arabic, P.E., music etc.) would sit in the school hall to meet the parents. Beside each committee there was a black curtain at a corner somewhere, which looked like a lame attempt to comply with voter privacy rules but it was sufficient.

There was nothing out of the ordinary. Everything seemed calmn enough. Nothing really caught my eye. Maybe we came late? We decided to hang around outside the hall for a while. We could still see what's going on inside through the doors and windows. Voters were coming out with ink on their fingers. Everything seems ok. All three of us would talk in whispers. I felt like an undercover spy. We were freaking out actually but in time we cooled down.

I saw two urban-looking people come from outside. A man and some guy in his 20s. They were talking in whispers too!

-"Everything seems ok don't you think?"
--"Yeah. Everything seems normal"
-"So then what's all that they said was going on?"
--"I don't know. Maybe it was earlier"

Monitors too?! They've also heard things about the place!

I ask the younger guy for a cigarette (Something I HATE to do) when the older guy leaves go check out the inside of the hall. A lame attempt to break the ice and get him to talk.

"I've heard that there were some problems here"
-"Yeah we've heard that too."
"Did you vote yet?"
(in whispers)-"No actually we're here to monitor the area"
"Oh cool"
-"But things seem to be going fine till now"
"Yeah"

So what happened?! I had no idea. I finish off the cigarette and my and my election monitoring buddies decide to leave. Nothing to see here.

As we walk outside we decide to talk the longer route to the car. Just check out the area. We walk past an "ahwa" (traditional coffee place) and there seemed to be an argument with some people gathered around an urban-looking guy wearing a suit. I decide to join the crowd and try to eavesdrop on what they were talking about. The other two colleagues walk along. The argument was between one of the locals and the guy in the suit.

-"Pasha I counted them myself. They were a maximum of 800 no more for sure! That's maximum! He was saying more than a 1,000! That's impossible I'm sure! I'm positive Pasha!"
--"Ok Ok. I'll tell them that. Now you have to do something about this."
(Then some stuff I couldn't hear)

The guy in the suit starts talking on his cellular and leaves. I try to butt in and know what was going on.

"What's the problem?" (How helplessly naive can I be?)
-"No! What problem?! There aren't any problems!" (What can I say? With a question as naively honest, how could I expect a better answer?)
"I don't know you seemed a little bit upset that's all"
-"Hehehe. No I just.. I was just talking and you know he wasn't listening much... I don't like that that's all"

Bummer. Anyway I came all the way to Refaa' El Tahtawy I had to come back with SOMETHING! So the stubborn little me decided to stay a while. I overheard two people who seemed to be part of the earlier argument talking.

-"So what are we going to do now with the count?"
--"I don't know CAN we do?!"
-"We need to get more people!"
--"I can't go get more people. I can't do that"
-"Look. Just give me the truck and I'll go get people. Ok?! You don't do anything just give me the truck that's all"

Ok so I tried to put the pieces together and made up my own story. Its fun to make up stuff. The way I see it is that the guy in the suit seemed to be one of the NDP guys. Apparently the NDP will not pay these local people anything (a more drastic version is to close the unlicensced ahwa) unless these local people get their asses off of their ahwa and bring more voters to counter the (El Ghad?) voters who came in earlier (that's what he was referring to as 800?). Or maybe 800 was money? Maybe they got ripped off of a few hundred pounds? Maybe that's what an earlier fight was because of? Or maybe they were Al Ghad supporters and got into a scuffle with the NDP supporters? And that's why rumours started spreading about Refaa' El Tahtawy not being a safe spot to monitor. Who knows! We're in Egypt. Anything can happen. Ofcourse this whole incident was not noted in my final report since I don't really have any facts or anything.

Anyway I decide it was enough and joing my fellow monitors. We walk to the car and we notice a truck with Mubarak signs on it. I take a quick shot with my phone as we drive. I wasn't ready to get caught doing that on foot.

The red pick-up truck. You can see the green Mubarak posters on top although the writing isn't very clear. The wall at the end belongs to the Refaa' El Tahtawy school. You can also see a guy wearing a blue shirt sitting across the road opposite the pick-up truck. That's the "ahwa" where the argument I overheard took place. One of my colleagues also noticed that the poster on the truck featured a pic of the guy who was wearing the suit (alongside Mubarak's pic ofcourse).

To be continued...

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...