The other day a volunteer in the Amnesty media office where I work said “there’s always violence” in Egypt when they have elections. She was in the country for the 2005 elections, she said, and “We didn’t go out of the house. It was too dangerous”.
A sad indictment, but surely a bit exaggerated? Not really.
In 2005 violence on the streets, mass arrests of political candidates, supporters and even election monitors, and a general feeling of instability were – unfortunately – part and parcel of the elections in Egypt. Perhaps not surprisingly, less than a quarter of Egypt’s registered voters turned out to vote. (Compare this to the UK’s own 2005 election: 61% of registered voters voted and even this led to a bout of hand-wringing over falling electoral turn-outs).
