By Amr Emam
CAIRO
The atmosphere outside a registration office in Giza, southwest of the capital Cairo was far from quiet. Young men and women held photos of the two frontrunners in Egypt's May presidential polls: resigned army chief Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and former presidential contender Hamdeen Sabbahi.
The young campaigners did their best to draw the attention of passersby and those going in and out of the registration office. "If you're with the revolution; if you want an end to corruption in this country – sign for Sabbahi," a young man, carrying a poster bearing the leftist politician's photo and a brief bio, told people entering the building. Only a few steps away, a young woman stood with a photo of al-Sisi hanging from her chest. "This is the candidate who will retain Egypt's national dignity," she told the same group of people. "Al-Sisi will protect this country."
Although presidential campaigns won't officially kick off until May 3, many supporters are already out and about introducing the public to their candidate of choice. This is seen nowhere more clearly than at Egypt's registry offices, where supporters must formally endorse their preferred candidates.
Would-be presidential contenders must gather the signatures of 25,000 eligible voters in at least 15 Egyptian provinces in order to contest the polls, which are slated for May 26/27.
-Confusion-
Inside one Giza registry office, fatigued civil servants worked tooth-and-nail to keep up with the numbers of people coming in to register their support for either al-Sisi or Sabbahi. Supporters lined up outside the registration window; many seemed in a hurry to sign the necessary documentation and return to their homes or work.
Three chefs from a nearby restaurant showed up in their white cooking apparel to register support for one of the two candidates. An old woman, meanwhile, sought assistance from a man standing outside the office so that she, too, might register her support. The office's grungy walls were covered in directions meant to guide visitors where to go to process their official documents. Representatives of the two frontrunners offered to help people process their applications. In many cases, these representatives try to convince those who have come to shift their support to the other candidate, causing friction and occasional fights.
"Some of them employ dishonest means to win more people to their side," said Eman Ashour, a volunteer campaigner for al-Sisi. "But we're here to stop them." -Counting support- Ashour and her colleagues in the pro-Sisi "Country's Future" campaign gather up the signed support forms, which they will later send to Egypt's presidential election commission.
"We expect to gather more than a million signatures in the coming two weeks," Ahmed Sabet, Ashour's fellow campaigner, told AA. Mahmoud Abdel-Moneim, a volunteer pro-Sabbahi campaigner, for his part, said he and his fellow campaigners were confident that their candidate – who came third in 2012 polls won by ousted president Mohamed Morsi – would secure the support necessary to join the presidential race. "People know very well who is who in this race," Abdel-Moneim told AA. "Our candidate has very good prospects – this is clear by the number of people who have turned out to support him."
englishnews@aa.com.tr
