Renad Ghanem

Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — The Egyptian presidential elections have shown that politics in Egypt is serious business — serious enough to break friendships and relationships.

Some Egyptian expats say they “unfriended” and “unfollowed” friends and relatives who support a different political party. Many even accuse each other of being disloyal to the homeland. Residents of Egypt say that Egyptians living abroad do not fully understand the miseries people in the country go through and therefore do not know whom to rightly vote for.

Some say that the people of Egypt had initially called for freedom of opinion and expression, which the old regime did not allow. However, Egyptians themselves, they say, are unable to implement what they had called for in their real lives. Tolerating other people’s opinion with respect is not seen even on social networking sites, they say.

According to some Egyptians, many people became interested in politics only after the revolution. While voting for candidates, such people do not rely on data or authentic sources for information. They merely vote for the candidates they like or those who satisfy their opinions.

Egyptians living in Jeddah spoke to Saudi Gazette about why they are blocking their friends on Facebook or unfollowing them on Twitter.

Salma Osama has unfriended many of her friends on Facebook because she supports a candidate from the old regime and her friends have post pictures of that candidate with curses and swear words.

Osama said she neither commented on any such post nor did she write anything about the elections on her wall. The only thing she did was remove all those who posted against the candidate she was supporting from her friend list, which came down to 390 from 453. 

Alaa Atef deleted six of his friends, which included cousins, from his Facebook account. “My cousin wrote on his wall that he wished those who voted for a particular candidate die and go to hell, as that was the perfect place for them. I asked him to be polite.”

Atef tried to explain the issue to his cousin that he should be realistic as everyone has the right to choose and vote in a democracy. However, Atef’s cousin wouldn’t listen to any reasonable justification. Atef said many Egyptians have become biased after the revolution.

Sarah Ahmed said, “My best friend wrote on her wall that it’s shameful for her to have those people on her friend list who have put up a picture of a particular candidate as their profile picture. She thinks that candidate is a terrorist. She has removed me and four other friends from her list.”

Nada Sherif has also unfollowed many of her friends on Twitter. Sherif said her close friends were attacking her by sending her lame tweets as if she was the reason the elections started. “I think we need ages to learn what democracy is.”

Ahmed Sarhan said he removed his colleague and they ended their four-year friendship because his friend is supporting a candidate from the Islamic party.

Sarhan removed his friend after an argument on his Facebook wall. His friend told him that if he didn’t vote for that particular candidate he didn’t deserve to be a Muslim.

Ehab Mahmoud said two of his friends removed him from Facebook because they accused him of living in another country. “They told me after an argument that I’m living outside Egypt and I’m not as concerned as they are.”