Of the four candidates running for Egypt's presidential elections, Cairo voters only recognize the current head of state, Abdul Fatah al Sisi, the undisputed favorite to win these elections against rivals completely unknown to much of the population. population.
“I voted for Al Sisi, because yes, I don't know the others. We don't know them and we must give the vote to someone we know," says Roya Ahmed, a 55-year-old from Cairo who cast her vote at a polling station in the humble neighborhood of Imbaba, on the banks of the Nile. She is one of the hundred people who have expected to open the Ahmed Orabi polling station at nine o'clock on the first day of Egypt's presidential elections, which will be extended for two more days so that 67 million Egyptians can vote.
And for the first time in a decade, these presidential elections have four candidates of different signs, a sign of the State's "serious path towards democratic transformation, partisan pluralism and political competitiveness," according to the authorities.
Zarid Zahran, head of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party (PES); Abdel Sanad Yamama, leader of the Wafd Party, and Hazem Omar, of the Republican People's Party (RPP), are just unknowns who appear on the ballot alongside Al Sisi. “Yes, of course, we already knew before going out to vote who was going to win,” says Ibrahim, laughing.
Although the electoral campaign included rallies, special media programs and posters of the four candidates, the vast majority of voters consulted by Efe affirm that they do not know Al Sisi's rivals.
Intissar, a 50-year-old woman who has voted for the current head of state, says that the only other candidate she knows is Gamal Mubarak, the son of former president Hosni Mubarak, who is not participating in the elections.
For his part, Ikrami Ahmed, 49, is one of the few who does know the rest of the candidates, but he assures that he has only gone to the polling station in the popular neighborhood of Shubra because the president and former marshal “is going to protect Egypt.” .
“I support the Army and the Police. The international community thinks that they have forced me to vote, but I came with all my will," exclaims Ahmed, who affirms that "Al Sisi has done good things, but people deny it." And Omar, 22, says that he will vote for Al Sisi because he is “the only candidate with” the necessary experience “.
The first of the three days of voting passed with a moderate turnout and without incident, according to several of the 22,000 observers.
Egyptians face these elections in the midst of one of the worst economic crises, marked by official inflation of around 40% and the loss of more than half the value of the currency in just over a year. However, voters have no hope that the situation will improve after the elections. “I don't think there will be a change. Now we don't understand anything, prices are rising and salaries are not. We understand absolutely nothing,” says Hemat, 45 years old.
