Around the time of last month’s National Democratic Party conference, a poster sprang up on the 6th of October Bridge, which snakes its way through the heart of Cairo, displaying more than a dozen smiling faces.

There was a doctor in a white coat, a stethoscope dangling from his neck; a man in a bright yellow construction hat; three women, two with their heads veiled, the other in a smart suit jacket; and a child who was wearing the biggest grin of all.