The Egyptian election, the country's first since Hosni Mubarak's 30-year dictatorship ended, is procedurally complex. More important, the exercise, which started on November 28, takes place in a profoundly uncertain political climate. It is not a general election; the bodies elected — the 498-seat People's Assembly, and the 270-seat Shura Council (upper house) — will have the task of writing a constitution ahead of the June 2012 presidential election. Both chambers will be elected under a version of the additional member system; the 50-million electorate will choose two-thirds of the members from party lists and one-third by simple majority, but if they do not also pick two independents on their respective ballot papers, their votes will be invalid. In addition, the three-phase process means different regions will vote at different times; the People's Assembly poll, which started on November 28, ends on January 10, 2012, and the Shura vote will last from January 29 to March 11. As many as 40 parties are involved, with over 10,000 candidates contesting. There were huge turnouts on the first two days; reliable initial estimates give a substantial lead to the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), the Islamist party of the Muslim Brotherhood.
The context, unfortunately, undermines some of the poll's legitimacy. Voting is compulsory; the fine of over $80 for not voting will inflate the turnout unrealistically, among an electorate already suspicious of the system. Secondly, the timing will skew the results; the FJP has by far the biggest party machine, and the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) has ignored the calls by other groups for more time to organise. In effect, the whole playing field is tilted in favour of the FJP. Many secular parties stopped campaigning in protest against the November killings of 42 protesters in and around Tahrir Square, but the FJP continued campaigning. Neither the party nor its parent body has condemned those killings or the earlier sectarian killings of Copts. Furthermore, the party has a vast, socially conservative, and predominantly rural voter base, whose attitudes it is sure to reflect when the assemblies deliberate on the place of religion in the new constitution. The movement, however, is not monolithic. Some senior figures have quit over the failure to condemn the killings, and a generational divide is also appearing. Above all, the holding of the election itself is an achievement not of the Brotherhood but of the Tahrir Square protesters. They challenged and overthrew one of the most enduring and repressive of the many dictatorships and absolute monarchies in West Asia and North Africa. Egypt is a great nation and its secular democrats can still transform their country and the region.
Keywords: Egypt elections, Egypt unrest, Arab Spring
Secular democrats? Funny word in Egypt. It is evident from the start
that it is Islamic parties that will be dominating post-Mubarak scene
but not to leftist media.
For Islamists, democracy is a process through which they attain power.
We all knew what happened in Iran.
Good perspective
The important point to be noted here is that Muslim Brotherhood is not at all ready to dilute its Islamist identy , this very well evident from its deriding of Turkey Prime misnister Erdogan when he apealed to Islamists in egypt to be more realistic
The determination which decides the Egyptian future is realistic and
praiseworthy.India too needs a deterministic attitude to root out
several evils.
Egypt with its elaborate and complex voting program is on the verge of becoming an islamic state with the likes of Salafi Nour party along with its partner, a party created by a fundamentalist poised to get 20-30% of the popular vote pushing the liberals consisting of secularists and christians to a distant third. Of course the Freedom and Justice party (FJP) belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood is expected to take the lead with more than 40% of vote. The MB, a well established group even during the reign of mubarak with their vast networks making considerable inroads into votebanks are also said to have an additional advantage over the secular parties as they weren't given time to organize themselves for the poll. In the aftermath of a powerful dictatorial collapse, hardline religious groups are vying to fill the vaccum.
muslim brotherhood is a movement which is the best organised movement in arab world.it condemmened all types of violence against innocent people.the editor should know all these facts
I agree with the heading but do not endorse your view, the reason fairly simple - the transition from dictatorship to democracy will be that easy especially with the mighty west backing the powerful dictatorships of the middle east. Kindly accept the 'will of the people' in Egypt. It is better that we do not try to dictate and will 'its secular democrats can still transform their country and the region.' The Hindu, has of late, even editorially, started becoming very subjective.
the election which is to be held in the country, but there are many difficulties such as debt crisis . if this problem is not resolved, there may be a handsome packet of difficulties. first they have spent more than the earning and always hidden the facts of economy..election will surely bring the resolution of this crisis,but how would they reach on an amicable solution.firstly there is big difference among the parties of the country.Matter of concern is that what will be nation's future after election and how will the winning party cope up with the opposition . this question is in womb of future but country will take breeze of democracy like other countries of the world and would attain a prosperous growth and will be in the race of development as it is knows as country of pyramids..
And after some time Egypt will be looking at some Baba Raamdev-Arvind Kejriwal-Anna Hazare-etc to kick out the corrupts and corrupt practices, like the great democracy of India is witnessing. All the best country of Pyramids. May you get your old glory.
Contrary to what is in the editorial, there is no $80 fine for not voting, it was a suggestion made by the authorities, but not something that was decided upon, and the that suggestion was so trivial that nobody except NY Times even reported it. You cannot attribute 62% voter turnout to fear, thats insulting the Egyptian people.Your reasoning is like, its not fair that the Congress won the first elections in India because they had a well organised machinery, elections should have been delayed as other new parties needed time to organise. Also keep in mind the brotherhood was banned under Mubarak and several of their leaders were executed, their members including women jailed and tortured, your article seems to imply as if the brotherhood is a new force trying to make a name. When trying to write on Egypt, pls refer to the Arabic newspapers and experts, it will help in being less prejudiced.
The article is completely lop-sided and suffers from selective amnesia due to which the writer has comfortably overlooked the facts on the ground. 1. There are public statements of consistently condemning the military in many news sites by the FJP leadership, pls do look it up, 2. secular intellectuals like Prof Rabah Mehdi have testified to the powerful presence of the brotherhood in Tahrir and even laying down their lives to protect the activists when Mubarak's goons attacked and media outlets like Frontline PBS documenting the role of the brotherhood in Tahrir, look that up too, 3. Also check the Brotherhood's relations with Copts since the last 80 or so years, there were more than 100 Copt as founding members of FJP and the practical actions they have been undertaking for peaceful coexistence and mutual respect even pre-Mubarak era, 4. Dont divorce the continuous struggle of the MB under various dictators from Tahrir.
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