To Vote Or Not To Vote
The international community is so eager to transform their successful democratic processes to our countries. One of their great visions for change in the Middle East is through elections. Frankly, this is a great idea that some of our governments are following, Egypt being in the lead, but it will be interesting to note that the people care less for the whole election process. They still do not know why they have to play a game bound to lose.
I was in Egypt in the period of the presidential elections and I saw no sign of enthusiasm. Sure the parties played a big role and the TV bored us to death with the election campaigns of people who promised to solve all of Egypt’s problems but still, there was something lacking, the general public just didn't seem to be interested.
You see, in western communities, people often boast about their right to vote, they feel that they have been consulted, that they have a say in how they are governed, most of all, the elections to them is an indication that their country is still alive, that their democratic processes are healthy and well. In our communities you cannot touch the same impact, people often complain about having to drag themselves to the polling stations, and still we shove it down their throats without asking ourselves what is the problem.
Democracy promoters thinks that if we introduce the concept and work to realize it then people will gradually comprehend its importance and soon practice their rights. What they fail to see is that this is not a question of comprehension, the frustration of Arab citizens stems from the fact that change has been slow. Their societies failed in producing someone they can trust. The elections campaigns presented people who came out of the blue, with ambiguous election campaigns. It presented parties with limited means and big ambitions. It was absurd to assume that one of those people could actually have a weight against the current president.
In addition, the whole psychology of the Arabic people reveals serious obstacles to change; how many times did I hear the phrase “a devil you know is better than a devil you don’t”. Most of the people just surrendered to the fact that the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is best because they simply knew him more than all the rest.
We also have to recognize that Arabs live in such a parental society. Respecting people who are older and who have more experience is considered a virtue in our communities. People often think that if they didn’t vote for Mubarak then they would be biting the hand that fed them all these years. Most of the people conceive stability with what they are comfortable with; they do not want to deal with a new headache (president) that will start all over again.
The whole issue is not a matter of awareness, anyone who has seen Bakhit & Adila, an Egyptian comedy film that helped analyze the incentives and challenges behind parliamentary elections, would know that people understand the politics, even the dirty politics behind such elections. The questions of integrity of elections and fraud are not the main problem here, we ought to ask ourselves why was there such a low turnout in the ballot stations? Why did 24 million registered voters out of 32 decide to weave their rights to vote?
The Egyptians know that if these elections were serious, the president should have stepped down and left the scene to more promising candidates. That was the only chance for these elections to be free and fair. The people then would have moved to practice their rights because they simply would want to have a say on who will rule them. But with the way things went this time, no one bothered because it was just too obvious.
There are lots of question marks, and few steps taken to understanding the politics of reform in the Middle East. There is a big deficiency in our Arabic systems as it keeps failing the general public. The bureaucracy, the whole economy of favors and the politics of corruption are overburdening Egypt. The Egyptian’s presidential elections have proven to be a big waste of time, money and resources. The international community has to realize that change cannot come overnight. In the same time, we cannot afford losing more resources in trying bogus democratic projects. There needs to be a serious focus on institutions and civic participation.