PRAISE FOR SISI AS VOTERS IN EGYPT HEAD FOR THE POLLS
▶ President seems assured of victory with no real rival and first-term accomplishments impressing citizens
At a polling station in the historic Gamiliya district of Cairo, a short stroll past the labyrinthine Khan Al Khalili bazaar and the minarets of the 12th-century Hussein Mosque, Nour Hussein Nour cast his ballot yesterday morning for his former neighbour, President Abdel Fattah El Sisi.
“His family worked in the arabesque business,” said Mr Nour, 50, referring to the ornate lattice woodwork in traditional hand-crafted furniture and screens. “He left the area after he became a colonel in the army.”
The metal worker was among a trickle of early voters on the first day of Egypt’s presidential election. Mr El Sisi is seeking a high turnout as an endorsement of his policies to achieve the twin goals of security and economic development.
He is virtually assured of victory, with a little-known politician as his only rival. Other candidates either withdrew or were imprisoned.
The opposition called for a boycott of the election after claiming intimidation of candidates and imprisonment of rivals from the military establishment.
Most of the voters in Gamiliya praised the changes they had seen during Mr El Sisi’s first four years in power.
The former military chief was elected in May 2014, almost a year after the army removed president Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood from office amid mass protests against his rule.
“As president, El Sisi saved us from the betrayal of Egypt by the Muslim Brotherhood,” Mr Nour said.
Nabil Amin, 60, a jewellery maker, also had praise.
“This area had become unsafe and neglected,” Mr Amin said. “Now instead of sewage bubbling over cracked asphalt, a new sanitation system has been put in and the road is covered with paving stones.”
He pointed to recently plastered and painted buildings across from his workshop on Beit Al Qady Street.
“The area looks better and is safer now because the police have made everyone install security cameras,” Mr Amin said.
Even in this tight community, security emerged as the theme dominating voters’ thoughts.
“I am here to vote for Sisi because he restored security in the streets,” said homemaker Hidayeh Sayed, 46.
Ms Sayed was one of the first to cast her ballot at the Hussein Preparatory School for Boys, a Sadat-era building in the shadow of the 14th-century Madrasa Sultan Barquq.
Detachments of camouflaged army conscripts and officers supplemented a heavy police presence at polling stations.
Teenagers wearing T-shirts with the slogan “Long Live Egypt” augmented the turnout, singing along to the El Sisi campaign jingle Good Evening, Mr President – a track by Emirati pop singer Hussain Al Jassmi.
But neither the clapping neighbours nor the urging of his elders could convince Ali Taha to “come down and participate” in supporting Mr El Sisi.
“Sisi will win the elections whether I vote for him or not,” said Mr Taha, 30. “My uncle and father have been bothering me about this all morning but I don’t see why I should go.”
At the Al Hussein Elementary School, polling supervisor Mohammed Al Hadidi was optimistic that the sealed and numbered ballot boxes would be full by the time the first day of polling closed at 9pm.
Many Gamiliya residents said they were not in a rush, given that they still had two more days.
“I am going to vote later,” said Ahmed Hesham, 20, an Arabic-language major at nearby Al Azhar University.
“In his first term El Sisi started important national projects like building new cities, but I do hope he can do something to either lower prices or raise wages because things have been tough here economically for a very long time.”