Election day in Britain .. queues in the rain and Arab voters vote for the first time

Al Jazeera Net - London

The cold and rainy weather throughout Britain did not prevent citizens from participating in the elections taking place today, and everyone is watching their results that will determine the fate of the country. And in unprecedented scenes, pictures of queues of voters spread on social media sites in front of the polling station doors to cast their votes.

The Guardian chose to describe the current elections as "the most important in a generation" given its implications for the country's future, especially in the exit file from the European Union, and at a time when all the British parties committed themselves to electoral silence, most of the opinion polls that preceded the polling night showed the inability of any British party to resolve the majority.

It appeared through a number of polling stations, that the volume of participation may reach high levels, and in the "Ealing" area in the capital London, which is known for the heavy presence of the British Arabs and Muslims, a number of voting offices witnessed an intense presence of voters, given the importance of the region.

Among the voters, people coming from Arab countries forced by the conditions in their countries to move to Britain, and after they obtained British citizenship, they are experiencing the experience of participating in the British elections for the first time.

The first vote
For the first time, Abd al-Rahman Khaled enters the polling station in the area where he lives, after obtaining British citizenship, and he is coming from Syria and he has obtained asylum for years, and it is only minutes until he leaves the center and smiles on his life, saying: "A feeling that your voice has a special value." .

With some amazement, the British citizen of Syrian descent talks about the simplicity of the procedures for voting, "It is very easy and enough to be registered in the lists and submit your name after that put a mark in front of the party you chose," and continues to review his observations on the polling day, which was a special day for him. The place to vote while you know your vote has value and respects your will. "

Khaled does not hide his happiness, since he was able to participate in free and fair elections without any fear of rigging his will or not respecting it. "It is not important for me that the party that I chose wins as much as the will of the voters is respected," explaining the complexity of the situation in which the country is going through. This encouraged me to vote more. "

Reluctance and then sharing
On the other hand, the thirties Asma Al-Muhammadi (of Arab origin, born in Britain) participated in the current elections for the first time because she was not convinced that the change could be achieved by voting.

Asma recounts that there are many drawbacks to the British parties, especially with regard to foreign policy files. "The Iraq war was a shock for me and many of my generation, and we felt that our voices were not heard, even though we took hundreds of thousands of streets to reject that war."

Asma is bewildered as she expresses the view of many that the Iraq war remains a psychological barrier for them.

On the reasons that led her to change her stance and decide to participate, Al-Mohammadi said, "The controversy over the Brexit made these elections crucial and will determine my fate and the fate of my children," adding that the numbers that talk about the ability of the Muslim voice to win tens of seats encouraged her to say her word and make her voice heard.

Unprecedented queues
Many British media have expressed their amazement at the size of the queues that were registered in more than one polling station, especially in the British capital London, and wrote a newspaper, "Metro" describing the scene as "the longest queues to be registered in the country in years."

Social networking sites were filled with images showing the long rows in front of the polling stations, and with the early evening hours, many media reports spoke of the fact that the waiting time for voting was more than half an hour, in a situation that the British had not seen much during the past election deadlines.

The heavy participation in the British elections is a natural result of the unprecedented rise in the number of those registered in the electoral lists, where a record number of 300 thousand was registered in one day, and the total number of new registrants in the electoral lists has reached more than four million people.

Increased awareness
Law professor at "City" University in the capital, London, Mazen Al-Masry, believes that the current elections will witness a record participation of Arabs and Muslims, "because it is a fateful election to solve the Brexit dossier, which has a great connection with immigration, immigration and racism issues."

Al-Masry links between increasing the attack on Muslims and using them as a material to win the populist right, and urging them to participate in the elections "because many Muslims are convinced that the only way to confront Islamophobia campaigns is to participate in the elections and make their voice heard instead of retreating from the public issue," adding that there are some names The candidate "raises the fear of immigrants in general and the fear of Muslims in particular, especially as they have precedents for making offensive statements against the Muslim minority."

The university professor stressed that "there is a growing awareness among the Muslim minority of the importance of participating in the elections, and with the increasing numbers of Muslim youth and with the efforts made by members of the Muslim community, there is a greater awareness of the need to vote in the elections and choose the most appropriate and gradually forms a conviction that abstention is not the solution."