Things are nice and calm here. It seems that everyone is worn out after the elections marathon.
It was indeed a funny marathon. Imagine a guy running in a race after receiving the best preparation and having his path cleared of any obstacles. The others running against him are all small, weak and unable to receive any kind of preparation or support from anyone. When these other guys begin their race people keep throwing stuff in their path. That's the imagine you need to keep in mind when you think about the elections.
After all of this they are clapping and cheering because Mubarak recieved over 88% of the votes.
What votes? What are you talking about?
To be fair, i doubt that Mubarak could have lost, but to say that 9 out of 10 Egyptians supported Mubarak is redicioulus. Then what's changed since the days of the referendum.
In the last referendum over Mubarak in 1999, he recieved around 90% i think. Tell me what changed? What the hell are we doing? Who are we kidding?
We all knew the elections would be rigged, that's just the Egyptian way of doing things. What i thought was that the government would at least know how to play the game. 70% looks good, even 75%, but i guess old habits die hard, they just couldn't bring themselves to be a little more honest with the people. My respect for the government would have increased tremendously had Mubarak received 75% or something, i wish they had proven me wrong.
And they also said that 23% percent of voters went to the polls, can we beleive that number too? If not, what is the true figure? If its lower, can their be any legitimacy to an election where only 1 in 10 or 1 in 9 people went to vote?
The stage is being set for the 2011 elections. Those should be interesting. Mubarak should be 83 by then and he may or may not be still alive. If he is, would be run? I don't know, probably. No Egyptian ruler has ever stepped down, i don't think its in their genes. Rulers are pharaos and i don't see that changing anytime soon.
I was optimistic about change, now i just don't know.

Electing a pharaoh

We can't really say that Egypt is boring, if there's nothing on TV and no good movies in the theaters, you can always follow its political scene. This scene can be both highly dramatic and extremely comic.
Today, Egyptians are going out to vote in their presidential elections. Well, i have yet to decide what this highly entertaining play is. Is it a pleasant comedy? Is it a tragedy? Either way, it is a farce.
One really has to wonder about the reason for holding the elections. Is there any possibility that Mubarak will lose?
I think that only real debate going on now is within the ruling circles. They are trying to decide what percentage of the Egyptian people have voted for each candidate. Issues like free will, transparency and all that stuff really do not figure much here.
Does a pharaoh even need us? How can we compare to the majesty of his divine being?
Anyway, i thought that Islam had ended this blurring of the line between what is human and what is divine.
I guess some things never change.
The stories coming out of polling stations in Cairo are appalling, but i won't get into tha, let us wait and see what the percentage that they decided is before we make our final judgment.