Last May, when Egyptians queued for hours to vote in a referendum on constitutional amendments, there was a sense of joy and elation about the process. For the first time in decades, a vote was taking place in a climate of enthusiasm, without fraud or police intimidation, and a great sense of civic duty. It is true that the referendum was partly flawed - the ink used to mark the thumbs of voters was said to be weak, electoral rolls had not been updated, there had been no voter registration and there were a few instances of illegal campaigning that were overlooked. But none of that mattered, in the larger scheme of things, even for those Egyptians that did not like the outcome. For once, Egyptians could genuinely believe that their voices had been counted.
As violence between protesters and the military led to blood in Cairo and elsewhere at the weekend, that optimism is all but dead ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections, which are supposed to start next Monday and take place over multiple rounds ending in March. The voting will take place in the tense political climate typified by the weekend's violence. As well as the continued fallout from the mismanagement of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) - the brutality of military police, the shocking crackdown on Coptic protesters on October 9 that has become known as the "Maspero massacre", the widespread use of military tribunals, the imprisonment of activists such as Alaa Abdel Fattah, the censorship of the media - there is also now a major divide over the process by which the next constitution will be drafted.
Read Full Article »