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Apathy Marks Constitutional Vote in Egypt
Voters consult their ballots at a polling station in Cairo. The government indicated turnout as high as 27 percent, but opposition parties boycotted the vote.
(Photos By Mohammed Al-sehety -- Associated Press)
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In contrast to past elections, there were few reports of violence. Only scattered protests were organized -- a far cry from 2005, when the Brotherhood and secular opposition grouped under the opposition umbrella group Kifaya, or Enough, were emboldened.
Since then, U.S. pressure for democratic change in Egypt has diminished markedly. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Friday called Egypt's lack of reform "disappointing." But two days later, on a visit to Egypt, she refrained from directly criticizing the amendments.
"The process of reform is one that is difficult," she said. "It's going to have its ups and downs."
In front of the Journalists' Syndicate on Monday, about 40 people crowded on the steps.
"The fraud is blatant," they chanted. "Come closer and hear what we say." But onlookers couldn't. Security forces clad in black stood two deep in front of them, urging pedestrians to move along. Street toughs in plain clothes loitered across the road. Around the corner were 10 police wagons.
"No one with a conscience should take part in this referendum," said George Ishaq, a leader of Kifaya, as he left the building in downtown Cairo. "The Egyptian people are showing with the absence their opinion of this vote."
Near Liberation Square, Karam Badr stood next to a kiosk stacked with newspapers. There was the government headline: "The Day of the People." Then the opposition version: "Even monkeys in the zoo know the referendum is forged."
"The people want to eat, drink and find work. That's all," Badr said. "What does it matter whether we vote or not?"
As he talked, a friend, Ibrahim Mohammed, approached with a smile and a warning: "They're going to take you away, and we'll never see you again."
Badr nodded his head in agreement. "Politics here is another way of saying detention."
