Is the celebrity voice of Egypt unanimously anit-Islamist? Who did the Egyptian celebrities and film stars vote for in the first round of parliamentary elections consuming Egypt last week? With word on Egyptian-Hollywood-street abuzz with the anti-Islamist sentiment held by the acting and artistic community, Al Bawaba wanted to separate reality from conjecture and gossip.
According to various sources including the esteemed ‘Al Ahram’ newspaper, candidness and transparency were not easily found among most voting celebs, who for one thing have their popularity to consider when committing to their political allegiances publicly. Exit polls have been used to gauge some of the votes. Otherwise individual admissions, where supplied, have served as an indication of the actor's guild as it were, voting patterns.
‘Hala Sidqi’ and ‘Ola Ghanem’ announced that they had avoided voting for coalitions that included Muslim Brotherhood or Salafii affiliations in fear of the perceived threat facing film and art in Egypt. Some stars such as ‘Samah Anwar’ fled the country, others like ‘Amro Waked’ and ‘Khaled Yousef’ confirmed that they were boycotting the elections. ‘Khaled’ further stressed that he if voting, he would not vote for any alliances that contained Salafis or the Muslim brotherhood, echoing other actor voting tendency.
On the other hand, some artists like ‘Hani Ramzi’ and ‘Salah Al Sa’adani’ declared that they did not fear that a Muslim Brotherhood ascendancy to power. ‘Adel Imam’ announced his anticipation and optimism for the future of a new Egypt that these elections were forging, as ‘Hanan Turk’ claimed that she voted for the ‘Freedom and Justice Party’ of the Muslim brotherhood.
So let's attempt to gauge just how common this anti-Islamist allergy has become within Egypt's artistic and celebrity community.
