International Reaction to the Election

International Reaction to the Election
I was glad to see some international reaction to the ongoing parliamentary election in Egypt such as this article and that one.

It is clear that the government is panicking over the increased momentum of the MB gains and decided to use its old tactics of arresting high profile MB members to diminish their success in the upcoming election round.

The biased Egyptian media is portraying the MB as evil and are trying to plant seeds of  fear in the hearts of Egyptian in an attempt to convince the people not to elect the MB. I’m not sure this will not have any effect on the will of the masses and it may as well backfire on the governments.

Egyptian Election Analysis

Egyptian Election Analysis

It seems that the current Egyptian parliamentary election enjoyed a degree of freedom that was unprecedented. The results after two out of three rounds show surprising gains by the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) and disappointing loss for the secular opposition parties. The MB gained 76 seats while the opposition parties only won a few with many of their biggest icons defeated.

I can’t deny that I am pleased with the results so far because it shows that the voices of the people are getting heard and the people are realizing that they can make a difference despite all the election rigging by the government.

The MB is elected by the poor who lost their confidence in the system and who are looking for a change. Unfortunately there will be no real change because the NDP still dominates the National Assembly after they included most of the elected independents. This practice by itself is disgraceful and shameful, because average Egyptians elect independents because they don’t want the NDP and when the independent member becomes a member of NDP he is cheating his constituency and defeating the reason why he was elected in the first place.

One of the biggest losses to the National Assembly is Ayman Nour who lost his seat because of the usual government vote rigging. I feel bad for him, he was a good politician who could have transformed Egypt to brighter future but now he may end up in prison for 15 to 25 years because of a stupid trumpet up charges and he’ll probably regret the day he decided to be a politician in the first place. Even El Ghad Internet radio station is no longer on air. Apparently the government successfully managed to beak him down so he can be an example to anyone who dares to challenge the pharaoh.

Looking forward to the third round, I expect further gains for the MB with more seats to the opposition; however I feel this coming  parliament will be short lived with colossal changes on the way. Stay tuned!    

My Prediction is Sadly Becoming True

My Prediction is Sadly becoming True;

As I expected in my previous post, the first phase of the election was dominated by rigging by the official and the judges in favor of the NDP candidates. The biggest loss is the people hope for peaceful democratic change.

Ayman Nour lost his seat as well as other prominent opposition figures. I listened to his wife Gamila Ismail  on Radio Al Inkaz and she sounded so hopeless and that mad me so sad.

It is interesting how the Egyptian media covered the election, while the government owned media declared the election “the cleanest in Egypt’s history”, the opposition and independent media listed many violations that spoiled the final outcome. I guess one serious problem with the election is the voter registration list  which needs to be updated and cleaned up. Another problem is the candidates vote buying.

Election reform needs to take place before the election itself otherwise it is useless. It is too late now but for the future it has to be done. They should replace the current system with a modernized one that utilizes today’s technology to eliminate manual workload by the officials in order to expedite the election process and reduce the chances of cheating. Such a modernized election system can be adopted from other free countries and supervised by international monitors. Voter registration lists should be scraped and redrafted from scratch utilizing the database of the National Number ID. This is the most up-to-date information database available.

Having said all of that, the future of our country seems bleak now with no hope in sight and that is the worst part.

My Egyptian Election Prediction

My Egyptian Election Prediction

The Egyptian parliamentary election will commence on November 9th with the first of three stages. It is going to be a hotly contested one that may reshape the Country’s political life, or so they say. 444 parliament seats are to contested among over 5000 candidates from all aspects of the Egyptian political spectrum, however the main player in the election are the incumbent NDP, the Muslim Brotherhood (MB),  El Ghad party, and the United National Front for Change (UNFC) -- which includes three major opposition parties, the Wafd, Tagammu and Nasserists.

I believe the election will be rigged as usual with the NDP winning at least 80% of the seats. I hope I am wrong but this is the way it looks like it is going to be. It is so simple no corrupt official is going to give up his power peacefully because then he will loose his benefits.

I am afraid that peaceful means to reshape Egyptian politics has become futile. This coming election will end up as another frustrating episode of raising Egyptian hope only to be collapsed when faced with the brutal realty of Egyptian politics.

Noise Pollution in Egypt

Noise Pollution in Egypt

In Egypt people are suffering everyday from all kind of noise pollution. It is more apparent in densely populated areas where noises come from car horns, loud music from stores and coffee shops, and Athans coming from several mosques in the same location.

When you ride a cap in Egypt you will listen to loud radio, music tape or Qura’n receipting tape like or not. When people talk to each other they tend to shout to make their voices heard. Another source of noise pollution in Egypt is mobile vendors with loud speakers advertising their products.

In Alexandria during the summer time, it is hard to get any sleep if you’re living in a popular beach area because people sleep at a very late hour and you can hear their voices talking in the coffee shops in the streets even if you live in the 12th floor.

There has to be some laws to prevent excess noise pollution to relief Egyptian from this degraded life style.    

Happy Eid Everyone

Happy Eid  Everyone;


Today is the first day of Eid Al Fitr which comes after the Holy month of Ramadan. It is a special day for my little family. We woke up at 6:30 Am took a shower and got dressed in our new outfits bought specially for the occasion . Then we hopped on the car and drove to the cultural center to pray the prayer of Eid.  I wasn’t sure about the direction which I got late the day before from an acquaintance. Unfortunately his direction was 90% wrong and we got lost on the way.

It was 8:10 AM when I realized that we are lost and I knew that the prayer start at 8:00AM but I hoped I could still make it in time, so I asked my wife to dial the mosque’s phone number to get some help, so she did and I talked to some helpful brother who helped me find the way to the gathering center which wasn’t too far from where we where at that point.

I had hard time finding a parking space but we finally parked and got out the car, harried to the building  where my wife entered into the lady’s section while I went to the men’s. By the time we arrived, they just have begun the Takbirat for the first Raka’. Of course there where no space left for me to stand, so I had to pray on the hardwood stairs. After the prayer was completed I entered into the hall and listened to the Khotba which was good, maybe I talk about it later.

Anyway once the Khotba ended I shacked hands with few acquaintances, left the building and called my wife on her mobile phone and told her to meet me outside then we drove home where I picked up my planner and grabbed some cookies and went to work. I arrived to work at 10:00AM.

I wished the Eid came on the weekend like last year but anyway I was glad to pray Eid and celebrate the occasion. My biggest celebration will be on the third day of Eid which is the start of the weekend, but for now it is work as usual.