Just as I was considering attempting to construct some kind of post explaining the current political situation in Egypt, an article appeared on Al Jazeera with the first set of election dates. Literally three minutes ago. I've taken it as a sign.
Today a number of Egyptian political parties will meet to discuss arrangements for elections to the lower house of parliament, which should, all going well, take place on the 21st of November. The whole election process is being held in three stages and seems to be occurring a little later than originally intended; it was previously hoped that the presidential election itself would have taken place by the end of summer, or early autumn. Now it looks to be pushed back until at least December, most likely some time next year.
By the time a new regime is established, Egypt will have been under military rule (and thus without a concrete head of state) for quite some time; as previously mentioned it is surely testament to the integrity of the Egyptian people that the country continues to function as normal, with the bare minimum - as far as I can tell - of disruption to public services. As I write this a few local children appear to be pitching in to help clean up the rubbish dump outside. Whether this is down to the more or less nationwide presence of faith (around 90% of the population are identified as Muslim, and many more are Coptic Christians) or merely a sincere committal to the revolution is unclear. Either way it also serves to underline the pathetic, laughable nature of the recent UK riots and the 'motivation' behind them.
Nonetheless - at some stage, the fifth Egyptian president must be chosen. Surveys from earlier this year suggest that the favourite to win is Amr Moussa, former Foreign Minister and the ex-Secretary General of the League of Arab States. Despite obvious links to Mubarak, his assertions regarding policies towards Gaza and the West Bank, criticisms of U.S foreign policy and many years of experience have made him an extremely popular figure; it has been speculated that Mubarak send him to work for the Arab League in 2001 to prevent him running in the 2005 elections himself.
The principle rival for leadership is Muhammad AlBaradei, previously head of the International Atomic Energy Agency and winner of the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize, a key figure during the protests and staunch supporter of free and fair elections in Egypt. His comparative lack of popularity may be due in no small part to his support for several policies that clash with current U.S. policy towards future stability in the Middle East. Other candidates include the ex-head of the International Union of Muslim Scholars and an ex-member of the Muslim Brotherhood popular with the youth, who was expelled for his decision to run.
More on the various candidates once I've had a chance to speak to people about their views, which will take some time. In the meantime it seems that in keeping with this new spirit of camaraderie and participation it is not just the temporary government and national media that are making sterling efforts to keep the population informed; a monthly magazine for Cilantro (a chain of cafes) explains in its 'Political Corner' how to vote in a parliamentary election and presents a guide to citizen journalism, while the 'Alex Agenda' (tagline: 'what's Up Alexandria') is sponsoring the Election System Stimulator, a series of lectures and workshops organised by a group of indipendent youth in the hopes of 'eliminat[ing] ignorance' and 'sharing a common vision of raising awareness and civil community engagement'.
However it would be naive to suggest that the transition will be smooth; the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which has ruled since Mubarak stepped down, announced following clashes at the Israeli embassy last week its intentions to broaden the application of 'emergency law' in Egypt, including the suspension of civilian rights and the temporary use of the special 'security courts' strongly associated with the Mubarak regime. According to the Guardian website,
"The new military decree extends emergency law to cover a glut of vaguely defined transgressions that could easily be applied to legitimate protest, including "infringing on others' right to work", "impeding the flow of traffic", and "spreading false information in the media"."
Some days ago the imposition of a block on national media was discussed furiously on Al Jazeera, one of a number of channels now believed to be under threat. An eloquent and justifiably exasperated journalist ridiculed the notion that Egypt was currently in a state of emergency, and even if it was, that the idea was unthinkable. The phrase 'blathering idiots' was used, amongst others.
The quote-heavy Amnesty International page offers a little more information on the actual restrictions imposed by the temporary governing body: http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=19690
More on this as it develops. In the meantime, I'm going back to Cilantro.
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