By Safaa Abdoun
CAIRO: While the youth was credited for sparking the January 25 Revolution, the older generation is making sure to keep the momentum and push for democracy as they stood in long queues to vote on the referendum on constitutional amendments, most of whom for their first time.
The voting experience was a first for 18-year-olds and others in their 60s and 70s alike.
Fatma El-Saeed, 75, was keen on coming and casting her vote for the first time in her life. “I have lived in Egypt ever since it was a monarchy, the 1952 Revolution and during the rule of the three presidents, witnessed the triumphs and downfalls during these times but I never felt the sense of ownership of my country I’m experiencing now,” she said.
“The January 25 Revolution has empowered us, the people and no one else… I’m lucky to have lived [to see] this day and have my first taste of democracy,” El-Saeed explained.
“I wouldn’t have missed it for anything, I’m helping to plant the seed of a new Egypt not for my benefit but for future generations…finally I am able to give something back to my country,” she added.
Polling stations saw voters from all walks of life, the educated as well as the uneducated wanted their voices heard.
“I’m not used to these numbers … I used to get three or four people throughout the entire day,” said one female judge at a voting station in Heliopolis.
“I had to come say ‘No’ to the constitutional amendments to stop Egypt from becoming another [Islamist country] like Iran,” said Madiha Abdel Salam, 58, a housekeeper.
Abdel Salam, who got her adult literacy certificate 10 years ago, was taken to the voting station by the family she works for. She said that where she lives, Dar El- Salam, candidates used to motivate residents to vote using money and other goods during previous parliamentary elections. She explained that even though this is not her first time to vote, she felt as if it is.
“It’s the first time I come vote with utter conviction of what I’m choosing, I’m also thinking of the welfare of the country and not myself, as I rejected an offer of LE 20 and a cooking oil bottle in exchange of making a certain vote,” she explained.
The voting experience on the referendum day has also shifted people’s opinion of the young people who demonstrated for days in Tahrir Square. “I have to admit I was against the youth of the revolution,” said 62-year-old Mostafa El-Naggar. “I was against how the prolonged demonstrations were putting the country’s economy on hold, however I now have profound respect for them, for their insistence and their determination to get us our rights even when we were criticizing them for it,” he explained.
Furthermore, the new voting experience for people increased their sense of belonging to the country, a feeling most said increased since the January 25 Revolution.
“I have never voted before because I knew I wouldn’t make a difference but I came today because this is my country, it is not Mubarak’s country or anyone else’s, we own it and we have to make the decisions and choose the path it should go on,” said 43-year-old, Morsi El-Sayed.
