Not the finest hour for democracy.

Elections in Egypt

Except for a bit of violence, said Cairo’s government-controlled Al-Ahram in an editorial, Egypt’s parliamentary elections last week were a “totally positive” experience. The three rounds of voting were an exercise of democracy that Egypt should be proud of. It’s too bad, of course, that some provocateurs from the Muslim Brotherhood party forced police to intervene at a few of the polling places. Still, even the “turmoil and disturbances” can be seen as a sign that Egypt’s democracy is maturing. After all, “dialogue—even if it is loud and lacks discipline—is the key to freedom.”

“No one in Egypt believes” that government spin, said Yasir Rizq in Cairo’s Al-Akhbar. The official news outlets claimed that the security forces were out in such great numbers on voting days merely to subdue violent demonstrators. But we all watch the satellite channels, such as Al-Jazeera. We could see for ourselves that “policemen were cordoning off the polling areas” to bar people from voting in opposition-dominated regions. Most of that state interference came in the third round, after the Muslim Brotherhood had won more seats than expected in the first two rounds.

The irony is that the government encouraged the brotherhood to run, said Sulayman Judah in Cairo’s Al-Misri al-Yawm. Apparently the ruling party thought that it would look good in comparison if its only rival was a bunch of Islamic fundamentalists. So the government “stifled all of the legitimate opposition parties.” In the run-up to the elections, the secular and liberal parties—never very strong to begin with in this authoritarian country—were effectively denied the ability to campaign. The Muslim Brotherhood, meanwhile, “was freely roaming around society using illegal channels, away from the arm of the law.” Since it has long been banned, it isn’t officially a real party, so it could ignore all the hoops the others had to jump through and mount a grass-roots campaign. The government just never expected that campaign to be so successful.

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No matter how it got there, having the Muslim Brotherhood in the Egyptian parliament is a net gain, said the London-based, Arabic-language Al-Arab al-Alamiyah in an editorial. The party has come a long way since the 1950s, when it tried to assassinate President Gamal Abdel Nasser, or the 1980s, when it was accused of involvement in the killing of President Anwar Sadat. Over the last several decades the brotherhood has convincingly renounced violence, “even though thousands of its activists have been arrested.” Now it has a chance to prove that it can be the legitimate opposition that Egypt badly needs. It can dissent and debate in parliament, and call attention to the rampant corruption in politics. “What is happening in Egypt now is the beginning of a more democratic and liberal future.”

Muhammad Hasan al-Alfi

Nahdat Misr