If we step back and take a look, 2 countries were going through elections at the same time. We had just recently the Parliamentary elections in Egypt. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world in Canada, they were holding the voting and 11 week campaign for Prime Minister Elections. I want to take a moment and compare how unbelievably different these two nations participated in this democratic right.
Objectively speaking, the two nations couldn’t be any further apart. 61% of all Canadians voted, which was a new record for Canadian involvement in politics. In Egypt, so far (I say so far because only the first stage has passed) there has been only a 26.56% of eligible people to vote, that have voted. That is like one quarter, less than half, less than a third. The spirit of elections in Canada was one of excitement and joy, newly eligible voters raced to cast their ballot. Facebook was going crazy encourage people that if they don’t vote, they don’t have a right to complain. When Justin Trudeau was elected, he won with an overwhelming majority ruling. The Canadians had voiced their opinion, and it was time for change.
Sisi has led his country without legislature since 2013. There have been no upstirs or attention with candidates for the parliamentary elections. One the first day, only 15% of eligible voters showed up, and the whole voting process was mocked mercilessly on Twitter and Facebook. Is this the problem of the government, or the problem of the people?
Aren’t Egyptians the ones who stood in Tahrir Square demanding change? Demanding the ouster of Mubarak, and Morsi? Aren’t Egyptians the ones who never wavered in the determination to achieve progress in the nation? Wasn’t it a historical moment when all religious powers and secular state came together to announce change happening in Egypt on June 30th? What happened?
I don’t know who’s to blame. I don’t think I would be very good at analyzing why this has happened, and I don’t think you would accept any reasoning I could think of. All I can say is what happened? Is this disaster out of the stubbornness of Egyptians? Is this the fault of Sisi? How did this happen?
