CAIRO: Nagwa is a vote collector. That doesn’t mean she counts the ballot papers that eager voters cast at the polls, her role in Egypt’s voting system is slightly more notorious.
“The nominees pay me to collect people to vote for them, says Nagwa, with more than a hint of a cheeky grin. “Each nominee gives me LE 200 to gather my friends, family and neighbors to vote for him.
Sitting in El Tagammu party headquarters, this one-time hairdresser, now fulltime mother, isn’t your conventional political female activist. “I got involved in politics because of my daughter, who can’t walk and has had two operations in her heart and head. That’s also why I started collecting votes, she said.
“When candidates knew I could collect a large following, I would get telephone calls before elections to gather people to vote. I’d let people know they could earn by voting – LE 20 to LE 30 for a vote – depending on how much a candidate would pay, she continues with a conspiratorial smile. “I would sometimes take the money and gather people to vote for a different candidate. I could be working for a few candidates at a time, from different parties. The candidates don’t really care about the money; LE 200 isn’t such a big deal to them.
But vote collecting was never Nagwa’s ambition. “I only collected votes to get enough money to give my daughter the [medical] care and operations she needs. I wanted to stand for the local council, but my husband wouldn’t let me. He said it’s not right for women to be seen gallivanting around in the public sphere. But he’s really scared I could be in a higher social position than him.
“He verbally divorced me twice, and each time we were reconciled by a Sheikh. But if he divorces me again, that’s it, there’s no reconciliation. He will leave and take my children.
However, for other women, the local elections offer a genuine opportunity to fulfill their ambitions of equality.
Huweida Ezzat has been working in the Tagammu party archives for several years. “I’ve learned a great deal about politics from the archives, and this year I decided to stand in the local elections for Helwan.
“Of course we face more problems than the men. They don’t take us seriously. But once you prove, as a woman, that you are worthy of respect, you will be respected, she said.
She points to her feet; Huweida has eschewed high heels for a pair of neat blue pumps. “It’s even things like this which make a difference, to show people you’re ready for action, to go to meet them and get involved in their affairs and concerns.
“We have a new policy in our party, that every woman elected must train six others in politics.
This year’s local elections have not yet started, yet they have already been plagued by a multitude of scandals, the mass arrests of Muslim Brotherhood candidates being the focus as well as the introduction of a LE 1,000 fee for “taking down posters and slogans after the end of the elections, which precluded thousands of candidates from even applying.
“I was lucky, says Huweida, “in that we have in Helwan the Tagammu party member Abdel Rahman Kheir in the Shoura Council, who supported my candidacy.
However, others did not experience such good fortune. Mahmoud Abdu was hoping to stand for Qalyubiya. “The government’s tactic is to delay papers for as long as possible, until the nomination window is closed, and candidates miss the deadline. For instance, I have to get a certified copy of a paper proving that I have [no] criminal record. This is supposed to take 24 hours but it took four days. I once queued all day to hand in my papers at the local election office. They put bogus people in the queue from security to make the queues longer. That queue did not move once from 9 am to the time the office closed at 1 pm.
Having expected such hurdles beforehand, Abdu had copies prepared beforehand. On the last day, March 13, he was prepared to hand all his papers into the local electoral office. But it was not to be.
“I was in the midst of security officers and my briefcase, which contained all my papers, was stolen right before my eyes.
Although he has filed several complaints at his local police station in Banha, Abdu isn’t optimistic that he will see justice, since the officers refused to write down his version of events, writing instead “the briefcase was lost.
Out of 600 candidates put forward, the Tagammu party has seen only a quarter accepted as candidates: another frustrating political experience for would-be candidates hoping to make a change.
