One party state
The first round of Egypt's parliamentary elections have just ended and, as expected, the ruling NDP has won. Could we have possiblly expected anything else? Ofcourse not, this is a one party state.
Sure, there are other political parties out there, but do they really matter? With the exception of their newspapers they have absolutely no presence on the Egyptian street, none at all. This absence can partially be blamed on governmental policies which really do stifle any hope of sustainable opposition. The general political apathy of the Egyptian population also plays a role in this.
Anyway, back to the elections. Just looking at the published results makes one want to cry loudly, while pulling out by hair one at a time. Almost all of those who have won are from the NDP, those "independents" that have won are also NDP members that were simply not chosen by the NDP leadership but will soon rejoin the party once they are comforatablly seated in parliament.
I don't think i even need to talk about the numerous voting irregularities that occured. Voters in poorer neighborhoods were given food, supplies and money, mostly by government candidates, in order to vote for certain candidates. That is not even mentioning the mass transportation and registration of voters from one district to another, those tales are well known.
The case of Ayman Nur is wierd. I can't see how a person who received second place in the presidential electios, even if only 6 percent or so, would lose his seat in parliament. How nice for the government that this guy is out of the way.
Anyway, bottom line is that the doors for change are rapidly being shut. One of the most important NDP officials, Kamal al-Shazly, has been in parliament for 41 years. Can anyone believe this? 41 years from the same district. The same faces, saying the same things, there is no hope.
As a result of all of this, the Muslim Brotherhood, whom i personally dislike immensly, seem to be growing an unhealthy ego, thinking of themselves as the only viable alternative to the eternal rule of the NDP.
What if no party has 5 percent of the seats? Will this mean that there will only be one candiate in the coming presidential elections? What will happen then?
It's clear what this charade is for and what its end result will be, we just have to wait until 2010-2011 in order to see the whole picture. The crown prince is waiting for this day, it shouldn't be too long now.
Let us see what happens in the coming rounds of voting.
The Caliph
Sure, there are other political parties out there, but do they really matter? With the exception of their newspapers they have absolutely no presence on the Egyptian street, none at all. This absence can partially be blamed on governmental policies which really do stifle any hope of sustainable opposition. The general political apathy of the Egyptian population also plays a role in this.
Anyway, back to the elections. Just looking at the published results makes one want to cry loudly, while pulling out by hair one at a time. Almost all of those who have won are from the NDP, those "independents" that have won are also NDP members that were simply not chosen by the NDP leadership but will soon rejoin the party once they are comforatablly seated in parliament.
I don't think i even need to talk about the numerous voting irregularities that occured. Voters in poorer neighborhoods were given food, supplies and money, mostly by government candidates, in order to vote for certain candidates. That is not even mentioning the mass transportation and registration of voters from one district to another, those tales are well known.
The case of Ayman Nur is wierd. I can't see how a person who received second place in the presidential electios, even if only 6 percent or so, would lose his seat in parliament. How nice for the government that this guy is out of the way.
Anyway, bottom line is that the doors for change are rapidly being shut. One of the most important NDP officials, Kamal al-Shazly, has been in parliament for 41 years. Can anyone believe this? 41 years from the same district. The same faces, saying the same things, there is no hope.
As a result of all of this, the Muslim Brotherhood, whom i personally dislike immensly, seem to be growing an unhealthy ego, thinking of themselves as the only viable alternative to the eternal rule of the NDP.
What if no party has 5 percent of the seats? Will this mean that there will only be one candiate in the coming presidential elections? What will happen then?
It's clear what this charade is for and what its end result will be, we just have to wait until 2010-2011 in order to see the whole picture. The crown prince is waiting for this day, it shouldn't be too long now.
Let us see what happens in the coming rounds of voting.
The Caliph
posted by Caliph at 8:36 AM
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