Vote for nobody

Polls begin in 9 governates tomorrow. While Cairo had its elections 2 weeks ago, election-fever is still palpable here: Giza, located on the other side of the Nile (where the pyramids are) and just two metro stops from downtown Cairo, will have its elections tomorrow.

Located on Mohamed Mahmoud St., around the corner from Midan Tahrir, this is the first election related street art that I've seen in Egypt.

Voter turn-out was remarkably lower during the run-off elections last week than during the initial polls. I hope that the voter turn out is high tomorrow and Egyptians exercise their right to vote and duty to shape their country. A general sense of excitement surrounded the first polls and I hope that that excitement returns-- after all there are still three rounds of elections for the Shoura Council (the upper house of parliament) early next year, not to mention the presidential elections which SCAF recently promised will be held in June 2012 and a probable constitutional referendum.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContentPrint/4/0/28243/Opinion/0/Elections-and-their-discontents.aspx
The world cares, so I hope Egypt does too.

Eyes, edited

The expression goes that eyes are the window into the soul. Well, it appears that eyes are the window into the street.

The mural of the living martyrs on Mohamed Mahmoud St. has evolved and the eye patches are now being written on. Sadly some of the portraits have been defaced with crude jokes, but still others have the name of the living martyr or an expression of hope.

Translation: "God is great over all evil."

Transparent Faces

I took these photographs last weekend. While the Wall remains on Mohamed Mahmoud Street, passer-bys are now able to walk up to the wall (or close to it at least, young revolutionaries still stand guard in huddles). Previously there had been a no-go zone complete with barbed-wire and looted Cairo police traffic-barriers and enforced by young revolutionaries. This was the first time I had walked the length of Mohamed Mahmoud Street since the outbreak of the recent clashes. I am quite familiar with the street-- it is the location of the AUC bus-stop-- and was pleasantly surprised to see that most of the street art remained untouched; I wasn't sure if I would find the walls blackened from ash.

The mural depicts those living martyrs who lost their eyes during the recent clashes. All of the faces in the mural were transparent-- their skin was the wall itself. Are the living martyrs a reflection of the street or the realization of it?

One living martyr's face was partially composed of a campaign poster.

Today concluded the second day of the run-off polls in the first round of voting for the Maglis Al Sha'ab (there are three rounds of polls for the lower house of parliament, there will be an additional three round of polls for the upper house early next year). Run-off polls were only in those districts in which an individual candidate (whether in the professional or worker/ farmer category) didn't achieve more than 50% of the vote in the initial poll- thus there were only either two or four candidates on the ballot. There were no run-off polls for the party/alliance-lists.

Voter turn-out is visibly remarkably lower than in last week's election- there is not as much excitement as there was a week ago- it appears the novelty has already worn off for some. There were hardly any lines and also hardly any Muslim Brotherhood volunteers- although the latter perhaps because they had been so helpful before.

http://www.thedailynewsegypt.com/egypt-elections-2011/lower-voter-turnout-in-second-day-of-elections-run-offs-dp3.html

I had one friend who went to the poll and "voted," but in reality scratched his ballot. Unlike his Aunt, he didn't vote because of the alleged 500 pound (100 US dollar) fine- He voted to be a part of the process, yet scratched because he didn't like his options (The Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom & Justice Party or the Salafi Nour Party).

Whoever wins and whenever they actually take their seat (Parliament supposedly opens in March 2012), I sincerely hope they don't forget about these martyrs and their families. They are the veterans of a war fought too close to home.