Headlines, Human Rights, Middle East & North Africa

POLITICS-EGYPT: Choose the Crescent or Be Fined

Emad Mekay

KAFR SHAABAN, Egypt, Sep 8 2005 (IPS) - The residents of Kafr Shaaban, a tiny village in northeastern Egypt, were abruptly roused Wednesday evening by a voice roaring through loudspeakers mounted on the high minarets of the town’s mosques.

“Oh people of Kafr Shaaban, if you do not come to vote, you will be fined immediately and on the spot 105 (Egyptian) pounds in cash,” the announcement declared.

Minutes after the call, lines of men and women began forming at the polling station set up for the country’s first multi-candidate presidential elections.

Many of the villagers, dressed in the traditional long, dark robes called “galabya”, arrived at the ballot boxes not knowing who to vote for, or even how to vote. Several told IPS that they had to come because the fine (18 dollars) would ruin their slim budgets.

“Where do I put my vote, sir?” asked an elderly man outside the polling station.

“Go in and choose the president or the crescent sign,” responded one of several members of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, one of 10 contenders for the post.

Because of the high illiteracy rate in Egypt’s rural areas, candidates are represented by symbols like the palm tree or the crescent to make it easier for voters who cannot read to find their names on the ballot.

A civil servant manning the polling station told IPS that the calls from the mosques came at the order of the village chieftain, a member of Mubarak’s NDP, after a day of low turnout. Village chieftains are appointed by the security apparatus.

A woman leaving the voting station told IPS she had to wake up to vote or face the fine.

“We are so poor, and we are scared that the village chieftain will fine us 100 pounds,” said the woman, who gave her name as Om Ahmed. “I had to vote for the president (Mubarak). They told me at the door to pick the crescent sign. So I did. We do not want trouble and he will win anyway.”

Mubarak has ruled Egypt since the assassination of his predecessor, Anwar Sadat, in 1981. Until the constitution was amended earlier this year to provide for multi-party voting, the NDP-dominated parliament would nominate a single candidate – namely, Mubarak – and voters had to check either “yes” or “no” on the ballot.

Mubarak was effectively forced to amend the constitution following mounting frustration and anger at home over rampant corruption and mismanagement of the country, once the leading voice in the region.

The change also came under pressure from the Bush administration and its allies in neo-conservative circles who fear that public discontent with Washington’s policies in the Middle East could fuel anti-U.S. sentiment and bring hostile leaders to power.

Critics say the Mubarak government is now using the elections, in which he is widely expected to win a fifth six-year term in office, to give renewed legitimacy to his rule. While the 77-year old former military man is clearly not worried about losing, his campaign has been keen to see a high turnout give credibility to the elections.

But many Egyptians, who remain highly distrustful of the government after 24 years that have produced little improvement in their lives, have said they believe voting is futile and chose to stay home.

Analysts here agree that the biggest challenge for Mubarak is not winning, but achieving a high voter turnout.

Afaq Arabia, a weekly newspaper, said in an editorial Thursday that Mubarak needed to give the elections “false credibility” by pushing for a high turnout.

Under the headline “From the wings of the elections theater of the absurd, ” the paper wrote: “The reason why the elections are rigged is that it would be not reasonable for President Mubarak to win with only a 10 percent turnout of voters, which is most likely the real figure for the turnout, and this is all despite the official rallying and pushing.”

Indeed, by midday Wednesday, the state-run media and other Mubarak supporters were doing their best to encourage citizens to come to the voting stations. Loudspeakers mounted on cars crisscrossed towns and villages, urging voters to the polls.

Religious officials appointed by the regime issued fatwas, or religious edicts, that it was un-Islamic to skip the election, while television and radio stations allotted hours to government pundits to testify to “the high turn-out” and the “fairness of the elections”.

The voting ended at 10 p.m. local time Wednesday. On Thursday morning, the state-run media ran headlines trumpeting the high turnout.

The government-owned al-Ahram newspaper’s headline asserted: “Millions Voted. The Turnout in Villages Exceeds Cities.”

Another government-owned newspaper, al-Gomhoria, declared: “A New Dawn for Egypt… Egyptians responded to the call of democracy and flocked to the first multi-candidate presidential elections.”

The daily went on to say: “Millions choose the new president with their own free will and with integrity and transparency.”

But the official line was bitterly disputed by other candidates. Some accused the government of rigging the vote and of using “bribes” and intimidation tactics.

The main challenger to Mubarak, Ayman Nour, a liberal politician, held a news conference Wednesday afternoon at which he held up an envelope with a ballot marked with Mubarak’s name and 20 Egyptian pounds, which he said was handed to voters at the entrance of some polling stations by members of Mubarak’s ruling party.

“There are no fair elections taking place,” said Nour. “We accept only the results of free and fair elections, and we won’t accept results of rigged elections.”

On Thursday morning, Nour said his el-Ghad Party would file a complaint with the Presidential Elections Committee, the government-appointed body regulating the elections, disputing the polls.

The other main challenger, Noman Gomaa of al-Wafd Party, said that his party noted several violations, including incidents of “organised forced voting” in which government employees and workers in the public sector were ordered to vote en masse for Mubarak.

For some ordinary Egyptians like Om Ahmed, the elections were too much to handle. “May Allah bring all this to an end,” she said. “If we do not choose the president, we pay fines and when we choose him, nothing changes. May Allah protect us from all this.”