It was really interesting coming back to Cairo on Saturday morning. Coming in from the airport in the very early morning, it was clear that the army had moved to key positions. I went out to do some shopping with the car and found blessedly light traffic and no ATMs open. On Sunday the ATMs were open for the morning only. By 1pm you could hear a pin drop outside and the birdsong could be heard.
An hour before the election announcement, there was deep silence on the streets outside. Our usually bustling noisy roundabout (traffic circle) had no-one on it – even the taxis that wait there are gone. It was not tension, just a palpable waiting.
There was tension waiting for the result, but within minutes of Mursi being declared, the tension went from the streets. The winner had been allowed to win. Normalcy returned: toots, gear changes and people hanging out in the Medan gossiping.
Around here, even if Mursi was not their cup of tea, there’s relief that process was followed and allowed to succeed. Interestingly the cleaner, who was vehemently for Shafiq yesterday, is today completely for Mursi – saying that Shafiq was from the army and no good.
Egypt appears to have taken a step away from dictatorship – what to remains to be seen. The revolution has taken so many twists and turns, confounding the pundits, that it’s a brave person who foretells the future. It does seem though that a page has turned.