For Some Egyptians, Their Honeymoon Starts at the Ballot Box

Tarek El-Tablawy
·2 min read

(Bloomberg) -- Newlyweds in Egypt have found a fresh way to cap their nuptials — by turning up at polling stations in tuxedos and gowns to eagerly cast a vote in the country’s presidential elections.

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As the ballot enters its third and final day with incumbent Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi poised to win another term, the tightly controlled local media is full of outlandish and colorful examples of Egyptians participating in what one state-run newspaper dubbed a “feast of democracy.”

With dissent sharply proscribed, El-Sisi’s three challengers little known and the vote’s outcome in no doubt, authorities have focused on encouraging — and then showcasing — mass participation at the polls. That’ll be taken as a ringing endorsement for El-Sisi’s third term, which would run until 2030 and likely see him forced to enact painful new measures to tackle an economic crisis.

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The front pages of Egyptian newspapers are trumpeting high turnout, and election officials said 45% of the electorate, or roughly 30 million, had already voted by Monday evening. Other publications lauded the police for assisting the disabled and elderly at polling stations or sported headlines citing youth saying there were casting a ballot for their future.

But it’s the newlyweds dipping their fingers in phosphorescent ink at the polling booths that’s attracted most attention. Al-Watan newspaper said they’d turned a “joy into two joys” — that of marriage and voting. There was no official number of how many had taken the dual step, but a review of local and pan-Arab news websites showed around 10 couples.

In Luxor, southern Egypt, groom Abdel-Rahim Fawzi said he and his bride decided to turn their wedding day into one in which they also performed their “national duty,” al-Watan reported. By participating, “we’re working to build a cohesive homeland for the sake of the future of the children that God will bless us with,” he was cited as saying.

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Election authorities are set to announce an initial vote tally Wednesday and the final result on Dec. 18.

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