Women turn out in force for historic Egyptian elections
- 13 years ago
Women are making their presence felt at the Egyptian polls.
Female voters are turning out in force during the first two days of parliamentary elections, with some waiting for hours to cast their ballots.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) LOCAL RESIDENT AND VOLUNTEER HELPING TO ORGANIZE POLLING STATION, RAWYA GAMAL, SAYING:
"I think it's an important step. And to see so many women just walk out and just stand for seven and eight hours and determined they are not going to leave, they are going to vote, because the longer they stayed, and the more problems we had inside, the more determined people were to stay and vote. And that, I think, that's just fantastic. And I was talking to one of the police men, and he said in 13 years of monitoring sort of all these like elections, he's never seen so many women."
One woman said she never voted before because previous elections were rigged.
(SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) FEMALE VOTER, FERYAL ABU SAYED, SAYING:
"This is the first time I have voted. The people who used to be candidates in the elections, we used to know already who would win, who would stay in their seat, and who would lose. So there was no point in coming out to vote."
Many anticipated violence when Egypt's military rulers insisted that voting would go ahead as planned despite ongoing unrest.
And although long lines and delays are leaving some frustrated, the first elections since President Hosni Mubarak's resignation have so far been peaceful.
Lindsey Parietti, Reuters
Female voters are turning out in force during the first two days of parliamentary elections, with some waiting for hours to cast their ballots.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) LOCAL RESIDENT AND VOLUNTEER HELPING TO ORGANIZE POLLING STATION, RAWYA GAMAL, SAYING:
"I think it's an important step. And to see so many women just walk out and just stand for seven and eight hours and determined they are not going to leave, they are going to vote, because the longer they stayed, and the more problems we had inside, the more determined people were to stay and vote. And that, I think, that's just fantastic. And I was talking to one of the police men, and he said in 13 years of monitoring sort of all these like elections, he's never seen so many women."
One woman said she never voted before because previous elections were rigged.
(SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) FEMALE VOTER, FERYAL ABU SAYED, SAYING:
"This is the first time I have voted. The people who used to be candidates in the elections, we used to know already who would win, who would stay in their seat, and who would lose. So there was no point in coming out to vote."
Many anticipated violence when Egypt's military rulers insisted that voting would go ahead as planned despite ongoing unrest.
And although long lines and delays are leaving some frustrated, the first elections since President Hosni Mubarak's resignation have so far been peaceful.
Lindsey Parietti, Reuters