Heba Afify

Many Egyptians Skip the Polls, Out of Hopelessness or Protest

Saeed sits in front of his butcher shop in the Cairo district of Manial, a few feet away from a polling station where only a few citizens cast their vote in the runoff of the first post-Mubarak presidential election. Saeed says he has lost faith in both the political elite and the state. He won’t be voting. “Corruption is back. Neither of the candidates deserves my vote. We should save our effort for a second revolution,” he says, before taking a drag of his ...