“It is a slow day today. I haven’t even made LE100 so far and it is midday already. But it is elections day; everybody is busy with elections,” said Mohamed, an attendant at the Nasr City Traffic Department.

Mohamed’s job is simple. He fixes number plates on cars. His monthly salary is quite humble but he makes good extra money from tips offered by those getting new plates for their cars. On average it is LE10 per plate, but with more luxurious cars the tip goes up.

For Mohamed it is not a good business day, but for Amal whose job is to revise licence documents, it is a good day. By midday Sunday, Amal was not suffering from the headache that would attack her on a typical day. Indeed, there was no more than one tenth of the typical inflow. “It is elections; people are busy voting or maybe just wanting to avoid the bad traffic,” she said.

For Dina, a middle-aged housewife, “today is the perfect day to get my driving licence renewed. I knew it would be an easy day and that people would be busy with elections.”

Dina herself does not vote. “I don’t take this whole business seriously and I really don’t think that elections are transparent, so why should I waste my time. Might as well get my licence,” she said.

https://english.ahram.org.eg/News/791.aspx