Egyptians ignore elections in Alexandria

First Published: 2010-11-28

Many Egyptians see Parliamentary election as foregone conclusion that will help ruling party tighten its grip.

Middle East Online

By Ines Bel Aiba - ALEXANDRIA

Business as usual It's a hazy Sunday in Egypt's northern city of Alexandria, a Muslim Brotherhood stronghold, where many residents are ignoring the elections as they go about their daily chores. Voter apathy is rife across Alexandria, Egypt's second city, with low turnout as many see Sunday's election as a foregone conclusion that will help the ruling National Democratic Party tighten its grip. "What's the point of voting. It won't change anything," says Omar Mahmud, another street vendor who specialises in Egypt's poor-man's breakfast fare: "ful" or stewed fava beans which is served with bread. "This election is of no interest. The deputies care about themselves only. Once they secure their seats in parliament they disappear. We don't see them anymore," adds Mahmud. The Brotherhood, outlawed but tolerated, was particularly successful in Alexandria in the last legislative polls five years ago, but is only fielding four candidates there this time after five others were disqualified. They run as independents to circumvent a ban on religious parties. The group, which has also seen more than 1,000 of its supporters detained in the past two months, is predicted to win far fewer seats than the fifth it secured in 2005. On Friday the Alexandria criminal court sentenced 11 Islamists to two years in prison each for election campaigning for the banned Brotherhood. Taxi driver Gamal Said, a Brotherhood supporter, says he cannot be bothered to vote as the NDP will in the end still call the shots. "It's like me and my wife," he says with a chuckle. "You see I like fish and I tell her to prepare it for me. She says 'yes, yes' but in the end she prepares something else." Said steers his taxi through an Alexandria neighbourhood decked with posters and banners of support for the ruling party -- the nemesis of the Brotherhood which he admits to "liking." But even so, he says, "I will not go and vote. I don't believe in it. It serves absolutely no purpose." The NDP is fielding two heavyweight candidates, both members of the government: Legal Affairs Minister Mufid Shehab and State Minister for Local Development Mohammed Abdel Salam Mahgub. Islamist MP Sobhi Saleh, who is running against Mahgub in the Alexandria district of El Raml, said he was attacked by NDP henchmen who tried to "strangle" him and was taken to hospital. "We wanted to see why our representatives in the polling centres were being turned away. Mahgub was there, so I took that as a security guarantee," he said in a phone interview from the hospital. "But a group headed towards us and one of them went for me. He grabbed me by the tie and tried to strangle me," he said. Saleh said he only had minor breathing difficulties but that some of his supporters said they were beaten with belts. The incident prompted dozens of Brotherhood supporters to gather outside polling stations in El Raml mid-afternoon, where they planned to escort the ballot boxes to the counting centres after voting closes. There were also numerous accusations of vote buying. "When my daughter went to vote, someone said to her 'you will get a free meal if you vote for Mahgub,'" said Mohammed Mahmud, an Islamist waiting outside the Ibn Sina school being used as a polling station. Some who voted for Mahgub denied receiving money, but food was being distributed around the school in boxes with his colours on them. El Raml is one of the Alexandria hotspots where clashes last week pitted Brotherhood supporters against security forces.