The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

It’s time for the Egyptian Parliamentary elections, and if you’re anything like us,
you’re probably confused about the whole process: where to vote? Who to vote
for? Which constituencies? What happens next?

To make your life a little easier and to help you
cast your vote, Bright Creations (in partnership with
Etisalat Egypt) has released Sawtak, an online and mobile
application that gives Egyptian citizens the information they need to
understand the Egypt election process and how they can go about voting in the
elections. You can access the app on www.sawtak.me, where it’s
available for download for iPhone, Blackberry and Android Smartphones, and
critically, as a WAP site for more basic handsets on www.sawtak.me/homewap.

The application provides comprehensive and
impartial information on all parts of the election process. Sawtak carries
information such as registration processes, which constituency a voter belongs
to, which contests a voter can cast their ballot for, the complete lists of
parties and candidates, and the voting locations. Using an Egyptian ID number, any Egyptian
citizen can find out everything they need to know to be prepared for the
upcoming parliamentary elections in Egypt.

The idea for Sawtak came from a deep
feeling of disenchantment at the still very rickety systems in place, and the
need for a completely neutral platform from which users can identify
and form their opinions and act on it in an efficient way.

Sawtak couldn’t have come at a better time,
because as expected, there’s still a lot of hot air obscuring
what is a huge landmark for the future of Egypt. Also, the application has no potential vested interests in the upcoming
elections other than clearing the smokescreen and empowering every person to vote with a clear head.

Sawtak is objective in nature and provides
no candidate or party profiles, restricting itself to only the candidate name, party
name, constituency and link to their website. 
You can check features of the application include the ability to add
candidates and political parties to a favorites list for a user to return to in
more detail later. The personal privacy of each voter is ensured by storing the
information only on the user’s handset.

The
information on Sawtak.me is sourced from the Ministry of State for
Administrative Development via www.elections2011.eg. The Elections2011
site is also worth checking out, as it Google maps your voting precinct
according to your national ID and offers a lot albeit confusing information and
videos on the election process and what to expect.

Whatever your vote will be, make sure you
go out and vote; each voice counts!