Boycott - The stronger voice in the Egyptian elections

It appears that the calls for boycotting the Egyptian presidential elections found great resonance, larger than expected by its owners. The turnout at the second day of the elections didn’t exceed 37 per cent according to the Higher Electoral Commission, worrying for the candidate expected to win, former Minister of Defence Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi.

This boycott may not be ideal, but it is a form of removing the trust in the current electoral system and a reluctance to vote in the knowledge that the results are a foregone conclusion.

It would appear that neither the national holiday given to the public and private sectors, nor the enthusiastic media cries were able to improve voter turnout and give legitimacy to Al-Sisi, nationally or internationally.

Evidence of those abstaining from voting and boycotting the ballot boxes remained dominant in the second day of elections, with results known in advance to be in favour of Al-Sisi. The electoral commission decided to extend voting for a third day in a surprising decision which could be unprecedented and highlight the anxiety of the authorities who were unable, despite all the methods of garnering numbers employed, to save face and connect Al-Sisi to the presidency with a reasonable number of votes.

It is unclear whether the objection submitted by Hamdeen Sabahi and Al-Sisi’s campaigns against the decision to extend the period of voting came as a result of the public resentment caused by the extension, or as a move to put a “democratic” stamp on the election process and its impact.

In all cases, the electoral commission refused the two objections submitted by Al-Sisi and Sabahi against the decision to extend voting for a third day. The commission justified its decision to extend the votes by making sure that neither candidate would be harmed by this decision to allow the voters to vote in greater numbers and allow them to cast their ballots, especially those in other districts and those who were unable to participate due to the intense heat. Sabahi’s campaign denied his intention to withdraw following the decision.

The second day of voting bought a repeat of the first day, with low participation levels and a lack of young voters to the extent that rumours spread about the possibility of Al-Sisi apologising for assuming the presidency in spite of the low participation in the elections.

Al-Sisi said yesterday that “failure to vote will lead to unsatisfactory results”, pointing out that he was very “happy and joyous” after placing his vote on Monday.

Presenter Mustafa Bakry said: “The lack of voters causes Sisi depression and may cause him to withdraw from the presidency after winning the elections. The timing of the elections is wrong, because this is the season for harvest for farmers and people are not free.”

The Ministry of State for Local Development said the meagre turnout was due to the “phenomenon of intense heat and those fasting in commemoration of the blessed night Isra and Miraj as well as farmers being busy with the harvest season.”

On the second day of elections buses supported by the dissolved National Democratic Party went out in the streets of Dumyat and Mansoura encouraging citizens to head towards polling stations. The lack of participation in Dumyat lead one of the men on the buses to hold the microphone and scream that, “we are in a state of war, go down and vote!”

The reporter for Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed in Asuit said, “Unfortunately no one has come to vote despite the holiday given” and the popular City Stars Mall released an announcement calling “all employees to leave work and vote”.

Minister of transport Ibrahim Demeiri offered free travel on all underground lines to enable voters to reach polling stations, while the Ministry of Awqaf condemned the “apathy of citizens” urging them to participate, similar to the announcement given by the Coptic Church in support of Al-Sisi.

The electoral commission announced that “all citizens who didn’t vote will be referred to public prosecution”, in theory sentencing the millions who boycotted in the 27 districts.

Satellite sources revealed that, “participation levels have averaged 30 per cent in the Delta regions, Sharqiya, Munofiya, Kafr El-Sheikh, Gharbiya and Dakahliya, but dropped to 20 per cent in Buheira, Dumyat and Qaylobiya. As for Upper Egypt, the turnout was around 10 per cent, whilst Cairo and Giza had between 15 to 20 per cent turnout according to the population.”

The Salafist Al-Nour Party worked to recruit voters, hiring buses to transport them to polling stations, according to eye witnesses in Fayoum. The polling stations were reported to be empty except for some Al-Nour Party voters who took cars to convince the citizens to vote from the early hours of the morning.

Over 15 schools used as polling stations were empty in Kobri.

In Tanta voter turnout was low on the second day as well, where the director of Alam Wahed, the human rights activist, Majed Surour said: “The total of those who voted in the school of martyr Saeed Al-Najjar were 790 votes from the total of 6,000 over the past two days.” He said the anti-coup camp in Fayoum had calculated that the “boycott had reached 96 per cent in this district”.

The alliance added in the statement their “appreciation to the self-aware Egyptian nation, in particular the youth, who in the second day continued their resistance against the empty chairs in the comical presidential drama, representing beyond doubt a popular punishment to the current authorities.”