Breaking News! Election Update!

Election day has arrived, and I can tell you the air is tense and exciting. I am in the fortunate position of having a voting station on my street and being able to witness firsthand what is going on on the ground and talk to the people who have just casted their votes.

Firstly, according to Masri El Yom:

1. "In Alexandria, the court accepted 34 lawsuits filed by attorneys of Brotherhood, independent, and other candidates excluded by various parties, against holding elections, reports Al-Shorouk. The court canceled elections in all Alexandria’s districts except Ghirbal, due to the large number of electoral transgressions." 

I do not know if the court when through with the cancelation, but if it did, that would place me in the only open voting district in all of Alexandria.

2. There have been reports of at least 1 death due to elections (the son of a candidate running in Cairo was stabbed to death for putting up campaign posters for his father).

3. All Muslim Brotherhood websites were shut down 1 hour after voting started

4. (Not confirmed) A witness in Cairo claims to have seen a truck yesterday driving to a polling station with boxes filled with filled in ballots

5. There have been reports of scattered violence and clashes all across the country.

When I went down to talk to the people at the polling station downstairs, I can say that the air was tense. Katelyn was carrying her camera and was immediately asked if she was from the press, because pictures are not allowed. There had been people standing around the polling station all day, and when we went down, one man was particularly vexed about something and had been screaming, with men trying to calm him down. We asked what he was yelling about and were told that he was upset because the candidate running from the National Democratic Party had way more money to campaign with than the other candidates, that the Muslim Brotherhood was not allowed to hang any campaign posters, and that generally the elections had been rigged. We asked others if they had voted and they held up their hands, showing us their fingers whose tips were marked with pink ink.

Earlier today, while she was touring the city, bouncing from poll place to poll place, Katelyn met a man and accompanied him to vote. She asked him why he decided to vote, even though it was seemingly pointless. He expressed that even though he knows who is going to win, it is still his democratic right and he has a duty to vote. 

It was really interesting to see the excitement around the polling station. Supporters of the Wafd party had stationed themselves outside the polling station, brought loud speakers and tablas and changed all of the traditional soccer cheers to cheer for Hosni Hafez, their candidate from the Wafd party. 

The polls just closed and from our balcony, we saw a caravan of men and soldiers carrying the big brown ballot boxes out of the school and take them to an unknown location. 

Last but not least- my balcony: The best spot in our apartment!