In Cairo, as Historic Vote Nears, Excitement Mixed With Wariness
Sophie Claudet reports from Cairo as Egypt's historic election approaches. Polls offer conflicting predictions for the balloting scheduled to begin Wednesday.
Arriving in Cairo after a two-year hiatus, one feels things have dramatically changed: obviously a revolution happened and a historic poll is about to take place. And it doesn’t take long to realize it on the ground.
Take the airport: several camera tripods, two large boxes with large Reuters stickers slapped on top, a senior CNN correspondent waiting at passport control and five heavily locked crates marked “Carter Center” rolling on the luggage conveyor belt, signaling the arrival of election observers. Take the press center where accreditations to cover the election are delivered: a machine gun-wielding soldier is posted right in the midst of government employees and queuing foreign correspondents. Is the soldier here to protect us? No, the press center is located on the first floor of the national television building — a prime target in every revolution.
