Spring fades into ‘a choice between two evils’
Cairo – Faced with the choice of an Islamist or a member of the military establishment, millions of Egyptians went to the polls in their first democratic presidential election yesterday with none of the euphoria of the revolution that made it possible.
Many feared the voting could in any case be undermined by the decision last week of the constitutional court, a body packed with cronies of the old regime, to dissolve the newly elected parliament, allowing the generals to regain legislative power and shape a new constitution.
As they queued at polling stations on the first of two days of voting in stifling heat, some said they were still deciding who represented the lesser of two evils – the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mo- hamed Mursi, 60, or Ahmed Shafiq, 70, former president Hosni Mubarak’s last prime minister.
Neither represented the liberal democracy many had dreamt of when they poured into the streets last year to topple Mubarak and his military-backed government.
In stark contrast to the excitement that surrounded the first round of the election, many said they were voting for one candidate merely to prevent a win by the other.
‘‘I’m voting Mursi because I just can’t vote for ‘felool’,’’ said Mohamed Saeed Attiyah, 62, using the word that refers to remnants of Mubarak’s regime.
Others saw the secular Shafiq as a safer pair of hands to defend the ideals of the revolution.
‘‘Both Mursi and Shafiq are un- pleasant, but I’m here to vote for Egypt, not for a person,’’ said Ahmed Abdel Mohsen, 58, who claimed the Brotherhood was driven by a thirst for power. ‘‘The Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice party will bring neither freedom nor justice, since all they’ve wanted from the beginning is to be in power,’’ he said.
Gamal Abd el Aziz, 53, a factory owner who was shot in the back during last year’s uprising, felt obliged to vote for Mursi to defend the revolution.
‘‘We can’t remain divided with the privileges reserved for the rich minority high up and the rest of us buried beneath the ground forgotten,’’ he said.
In the predominantly wealthy Cairo district of Zamalek, a woman said she was supporting Shafiq because he would ‘‘bring things back to the way they were before’’. She quickly corrected herself: ‘‘I mean, much better than they were before.’’
Some voters found it impossible to choose. Seated on a bench outside his polling station, Magdy Mohammed, 50, said he had been thinking about it for over an hour.
‘‘I’ve come to vote to protect Egypt, because I want democracy, freedom and justice. But I’m still not sure who’s more likely to deliver that.’’
The mood of dissatisfaction spilled on to Cairo’s streets. ‘‘Each candidate is more rotten than the other!’’ shouted a cyclist in the impoverished district of Shubra. He was boycotting the vote.
A poster circulating on prodemocracy social networking sites summed up the disillusionment of revolutionaries with what has been widely described as a military coup.
‘‘The revolution asked for bread, freedom and social justice,’’ it said. ‘‘They gave us troops, police and military police.’’