I
met another of the candidates, Farghal Abu-Deif Atiya, holding court at his
cafe in a poor neighborhood. It is called the Freedom Club Cafe but he hopes
soon to rename it the Presidential Cafe when he is successful.
"If I can run my cafe efficiently, why not Egypt - indeed the world? The old regime used to deal with us as ignorant people, as a nation of deaf and dumb. Egyptians will respect me as a man of the people." Atiya said
He
insists that he has begun trying to gather 30,000 endorsements needed to get on
the ballot paper. But I did not see much sign of any urgent action, as we sat
round pleasantly chatting, drinking shai (tea) and tasting the sweet, milky
Egyptian concoction called sahlab.
Excerpts above are taken from a BBC article by Jon Leyne.
