EGYPT VOTESA TOOL FOR LASTING DEMOCRACY

EGYPT VOTES a tool for lasting democracy

“Social networks have provided a critical outlet for people’s sentiment and information exchanged throughout the Arab Spring and technology plays a pivotal role in monitoring these elections. Our website built with our strategic partners, gives Egyptian voters the opportunity to share and discuss their personal experiences of this historical election online.”

-Ayman Abdellatif, General Manager for Microsoft Egypt

context

The Egyptian revolution started on January 25, 2011. On the so-called “Day of Rage,” Egyptians, inspired by the Tunisian revolution, took to the streets of Egypt to protest against the precarious living conditions people in the country were facing.

The ultimate purpose of these protests was to force the resignation of Hosni Mubarak and his regime that had been in power for the previous 30 years. In only 18 days of protests, the Egyptian people obtained what they wanted—Mubarak resigned from office on February 11, 2011.

After months of internal clashes within the country, Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, Commander-in-Chief of the Egyptian Armed Forces, called an election, and as a result, was elected president of Egypt on July 21, 2011.

This revolution cleared the way for the first legal and legitimate elections of the country. Yet, the country of Egypt suffered 900 fatalities on its way to democracy.

“We believe we can make a difference and share our resources with local teams to provide a voice on the election results. We are in historical times and we built this company to promote democracy world-wide. To walk on Tahrir Square and view people on their mobile phones posting comments and sharing their voice: this is why ElectionMall® was created, as technology can increase political participation via technology.”

Ravi Singh Founder, CEO of ElectionMall®

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the challenge

After the revolution and the elections, one of the main challenges Egyptians faced was in keeping the flame of democracy alive.

“Under the provisional Constitution, the new Egyptian People’s Assembly and Sura Council will be chosen in three separate rounds of voting, each involving a series of run-offs. It would be complicated even for a mature democracy, and in addition to confusion, some voters, disappointed by the results of the first or second-round of voting, have found a healthy outlet to express their frustration.”1

Because of the fragile democracy and the potential for confusion and misinformation, CEO Ravi Singh travelled to Cairo to promote “Egypt Votes.” “Egypt Votes” was an innovative website developed to deliver insight into the experience of voters, publish election results as they were announced, along with providing all of the information and facts needed to track the elections.

the strategy

“Democracy requires the unrestrained exchange of thoughts and experiences, but in a closed society like Egypt, opportunities for open communication by ordinary citizens had been virtually non-existent – which is where “Egypt Votes” came in.”1 A forum needed to be created where this participation could occur from all citizens.

“As Egyptians took to the polls in the first free elections of their lifetimes, “Egypt Votes” gave them a chance to share their experiences and observations, not just within the gated neighborhoods of their own Facebook® friends and Twitter® followers, but with the uninformed millions of Egyptians, worldwide.”

Another key point on the strategy was that “over 70% of Egyptian adults are literate, and 1 in 4 has access to the Internet. The popularity of “Egypt Votes” came as no surprise. After all, Egyptians’ advanced communications and web involvement played a major role in bringing about the Tahrir Square Revolution in the first place!”1

QUICK FACTS:

EGYPT (Arab Republic of)EG - 82,079,636 population (2011)

Country Area: 1,001,450 sq km

Capital city: Cairo - population 7,947,121 (2008)

21,691,776 Internet users as of Dec.31, 2011, 26.4% of the population, per ITU.

9,391,580 Facebook® users on Dec 31/11,11.4% penetration rate.

1 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-pfeifle/arab-spring-version-20_b_1169106.html

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the technology

““Egypt Votes” was launched in conjunction with ElectionMall®, a non-partisan political technology company and Microsoft’s® Azure platform along with Egyptian news portal Masrawy and MSN® Arabia.” “The site guides first-time voters to their local polling places, helps them understand registration requirements and provides immediate posting of official election results.”1

A major difficulty within the “Egypt Votes” project was the large population involved. In order to keep track of the process, ElectionMall® used special, specific tools to keep track of the website coding. These tools then assisted the development of all of the applications needed to build and maintain the website. Since there were multiple elections being held over the country, scalability was a big concern. When would people participate? Before, during, or after the election?

“Egypt Votes” also came with a multi-lingual tool that expanded the website’s content to reach more than just Arabic speakers.

The integration of Bing™ Maps was a key tool.

These maps displayed interactive pins of all governorates across the country and provided a platform for Egyptians to share and view their experiences via social networking sites like Facebook® and Twitter® after posting their ballots to increase and spread involvement.2 Bing™ Maps also broke down election outcomes governorate by governorate as the results were released by Egyptian authorities.2

The most important aspect of “Egypt Votes” was to provide transparency and accurate, reliable information.2 Because “Egypt Votes” was built using Windows Azure from Microsoft®, an open and flexible cloud computing platform, users were able to implement applications quickly. “Egypt Votes” then had the ability to escalate bandwidth depending on the number of active users at any moment—providing only the best experience—no matter how heavy the web traffic.

My first time voting was in March of this year, then the parliamentary elections on the 28th of November. I thought long and hard about whom should represent me in the parliament. I finally decided that this 65-year-old man should give his vote to the young men and women who gave us this revolution.

Muhammad Hammad (Cairo)

2 http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/12/prweb9029675.htm

A wonderful experience that makes you really feels like a true citizen of Egypt. It doesn’t matter who wins or who loses: what’s important is that the elected officials win fair-and-square and that our votes actually count. This is the wonderful outcome of the revolution.

Mahmoud al-Huwayty (Giza)

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positive outcomes

“Egypt Votes” provided citizens with the tools they needed to share their perspectives on the new democracy and elections in Egypt. It gathered more than 1,400 comments in record timing from all around the world. Due to the elections and newfound democracy, Egyptians felt their votes could actually make a difference. A mutual respect was also created for those who died for their freedom and for those who could finally act on it.

““Egypt Votes” has given voters a tool to educate, mobilize and reassure one another. It’s rather like the Internet phenomenon of “crowd-sourcing,” but for voting…While Twitter® and Facebook® gave rise to the Arab Spring, “Egypt Votes” held the greatest promise for ushering the Middle East to a period of true and lasting democracy.”1

“Egypt Votes” has been awarded two Web Marketing Association’s 2012 Internet Advertising Competition awards for both the “Best Advocacy Interactive Application” and the “Best Political Interactive Application.” All in all, “Egypt Votes” was a success. It gave a voice to citizens that wanted to participate in the political arena of their country towards another step into democracy.

to visit the website / participate:http://arabic.arabia.msn.com/elections/egyptvotes.aspxhttp://www.masrawy.com/elections/egyptvotes/

I have a bed-ridden mother who can only get around on a wheelchair. She told me she wanted to go vote. When the military officers saw her at the polling station, four of them came over to carry her up to the third floor and then bring her down. I’m very proud to be Egyptian.

Ahmad Rizq (Damietta)

3 http://www.advertisingcompetition.org/iac/winner.asp?eid=8478

About ElectionMall®

TechnologiesFounded in 1999 ElectionMall.com is a world wide leader in providing Internet-based on non-partisan solutions for campaigns and electons.

About MasrawyMasrawy Portal, the first and largest Egyptian portal, is currently one of the biggest Arab Web sites specializing in news.

About MSN® ArabiaMSN® Arabia is the first international bilingual Portal in the Middle East, catering to all Arabic, English and French speakers, offering premium content and services that include Windows Live Hotmail® and Live Messenger®.

About Microsoft®

Founded in 1975, Microsoft® (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

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copyright

© 2011 ElectionMall Inc.. All rights reserved. ElectionMall Inc. (“EMT”) furnishes this document and the software described in this document under the applicable agreement between the reader of this document (“You”) and EMT (“Agreement”). You may use this document and/or software only in accordance with the terms of the Agreement. Except as expressly set forth in the Agreement, the information contained in this document is subject to change without notice and therefore should not interpreted in any way as a guarantee or warranty by EMT. EMT assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors that may appear in this document. The copyrighted software that accompanies this document is licensed to You for use only in strict accordance with the Agreement. You should read the Agreement carefully before using the software. Except as permitted by the Agreement, You may not reproduce any part of this document, store this document in a retrieval system, or transmit this document, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written consent of EMT. Restricted Rights LegendsFor Government or defense agenciesUse, duplication, or disclosure by the Government or defense agencies is subject to restrictions as set forth the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause at DFARS 252.227-7013 and in similar clauses in the FAR and NASA FAR Supplement. For civilian agenciesUse, reproduction, or disclosure is subject to restrictions set forth in subparagraphs (a) through (d) of the Commercial Computer Software Restricted Rights clause at 52.227-19 and the limitations set forth in ElectionMall Inc.’s standard commercial agreement for this software. Unpublished rights reserved under the copyright laws of the United States. TrademarksEMT, the EMT logo, CampaignGuru, eyardsigns and ElectionYellowPages are registered trademarks of ElectionMall Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. DonationPages, GOTV Manager, CampaignCloud, Campaign Ad Engine, Take Action Web Page, ElectionEmail, Europa Email, CMS Dot Com Manager, and FundraisingByNet are trademarks and/or service marks of ElectionMall Inc. All other brands and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

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