Referendum fun times

Ululation appears to have become a common companion to voting procedures in many polling stations across the country. Women would follow their ballot casting with some jubilant ululation, otherwise heard in wedding ceremonies — a natural gesture since many see the referendum as the “wedding of democracy.”

Just as ululations were heard across Egypt’s polling stations, dancing to “Tisslam al-Ayadi,” the popular ode to the military, has also been a common occurrence. Several YouTube videos shared widely showed men and women dancing in joy to the song to complement their civic act of engagement.

People voted. Then burst into tears.

The Facebook page of the Ministry of Interior’s media team proudly posted an image of a woman voter wearing a poncho knitted as an Egyptian flag and a necklace with a commander in chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi pendant. The fun, however, lies in the comment posted by the media team. It reads, “If you are too lazy to go down and vote, you should to be ashamed of yourself when you see this picture.” Ok?

Former presidential hopeful and military supporter Hamdeen Sabbahi sat, with a sad face, next to a polling station in Mohandiseen as he didn’t find his name among registered voters even though he had cast his vote there previously. It turns out the Nasserite politician so eager to vote is registered in a polling station in Saudi Arabia.

A photo of Adly Mansour smiling and raising his pink finger after voting got several affectionate comments. Cuteness was a commonly expressed sentiment. The photo of the interim president whose name many struggled to remember at the beginning of his appointment became quickly a meme, with some photoshopping gems such as Mansour posing in front of Nutella jars with a chocolate finger.

Young Abdel Rahman went to the polls in Imbaba dressed up in an army uniform.

A woman’s neck was laden herself with a number of necklaces that express her love for the men of the era, namely: Sisi, television host Tawfik Okasha, former presidents Anwar Sadat and Gamal Abdel Nasser. The woman wearing a medley of pendants was found near a polling station in Mansoura.

Privately owned Al-Watan newspaper published a picture of an old man who was so eager to vote that dipping his finger in indelible ink was not enough, and he sunk his whole hand in, before raising it triumphantly outside the polling station. On Facebook, however, the photo was consumed and commented on as though the man had just slaughtered the judge inside the polling station.