Renad Ghanem
Saudi Gazette
CAIRO — In the lead up to the second phase of Egypt’s parliamentary elections on November 22, many Egyptians have said they won’t support political parties with religious backgrounds.
The first phase of the 2015 elections concluded with voter participation of only 27 percent, less than the Egypt’s high election committee expected.
This year’s election has been described as “mass candidates with weak knowledge.”
Egyptians who took to the streets on June 30 to protest against the Muslim Brotherhood and other religiously backed parties went to the polls because many believe that if such parties occupy seats in the parliament, they will once more take control of the country.
Saudi Gazette spoke with a number of Egyptian’s intending to vote in the second round who were optimistic after the first round saw Islamic candidates and the Salafi party El Nour eliminated.
Many said they had also decided to vote because of the low level of participation in the first round, as the second round includes Egypt’s capital Cairo and many major cities with high populations.
One Egyptian female voter, Dina Hazem, who intends to vote in the second round, said she decided to vote only after she saw the first round results.
“I was afraid that these parties with religious backgrounds would occupy the parliament as they did in 2011, but I’m thankful that Egyptians were aware,” she said. “President El-Sisi asked Egyptians to vote, and we will vote to elect the candidates that will help him in his path to complete innovation and development.”
“I live in Heliopolis and it’s good that I know two of the candidates in my area – I’ll vote only for people without any religious background.”
While Dina knows her candidates, Egyptian engineer Ahmed Omar said he doesn’t know the candidates in his area, but has decided to vote anyway.
“There’s a media attack saying that youth don’t vote which is not true,” he said. “We vote, we participate, we do always what we supposed to do for our country, I’m only 25 and I didn’t miss any elections since 2011.”
Ahmed said he would choose at random, because he didn’t know any of the candidates, and hoped that his choice is a good one.
“We’ve learned from what we saw in 2011 parliament, so we will not repeat that again,” he said.
Another female voter, Sarah Salama, said she believes the Egyptian president needs his people’s support, and that choosing good candidates would be the best way to help.
She said that people were responsible for reading and learning about candidates, as voting randomly would lead to poor outcomes.
“We must vote for who will be in the country’s best interests, whether individuals or a party,” she said. “I will vote and I asked all my relatives and friends to vote. I asked them to read about candidates before voting. It’s our responsibility.”
