In Cairo’s leafy Zamalek district, liberal Egyptians trickled into polling stations from the morning to salvage a victory in run offs on Monday for a parliament Islamists appeared poised to dominate. Ten months after president Hosni Mubarak’s overthrow by an uprising driven by secular youths, liberals say they feel that their way of life is threatened by fundamentalist Islamist groups sweeping the polls.
“I voted for (liberal candidate Mohammed Abu) Hammad. If he doesn’t win here, I don’t know where liberals will win,” Amr al-Gidawi said at a polling station in Zamalek, home to rich and foreign diplomats. Mohammed Mahmud, a businessman, said he was particularly worried about the rise of the ultraconservative Salafist movement.I came to vote for a liberal, to make sure my vote will count,” he said. “I’m Muslim,” he said. “But that’s between me and my God. I don’t want someone to tell me to pray, or that my wife has to wear the hijab”.
