Egyptian Parties Raise Their Voices
Religious and secular parties begin manoeuvring ahead of national elections later this year.
Egyptian Parties Raise Their Voices
Religious and secular parties begin manoeuvring ahead of national elections later this year.
As the revolutionary dust settles, Egypt is preparing itself for its first-ever truly democratic elections. Leading Cairo-based journalist and blogger Issandr El-Amrani looks at the emerging political map and changing public discourse.
How has political awareness developed since the fall of the Mubarak regime? Are people clearer about the choices and opportunities that are available to them?
The political scene is still unstable as we are waiting for the dust to settle. We do have a political tradition here, in terms of having a parliament and a constitution. There is more of a tradition of debate here than in, for instance, Libya, but it is still quite new. For 30 years, we had Mubarak and a scene dominated by a party which was essentially an extension of the state. Before then, there was truly a single party state. So there have been 60 years of no democracy and no real pluralism.
The confusion was evident in the recent referendum. Tremendous amounts of people voted for reasons which were completely irrelevant. The referendum was about amending the 1971 constitution to support democracy, not about securing Islamic nature of the country, but this misconception became part of the public debate.
The idea that religion had any connection with the referendum was a theory spread by the Islamists, who urged people to vote yes, arguing that this would guarantee a role for sharia law. This just wasn’t true. Article 2 in the constitution already says that sharia law is the source of the country’s legislation – and it wasn’t even up for discussion in this referendum.
After the referendum, Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Yacoub, a Salafi preacher, congratulated his supporters for winning the “battle of the ballot boxes”. He got a lot of coverage but in reality he is just a taxi driver, who happens to have a small religious following.
The “yes” vote was seen in the Egyptian media partly as a pro-religious vote, and the Muslim Brotherhood, MB, did indeed support this position, their official reason being that they wanted a quick transition and to be supportive of the army’s plans. Even amongst those who voted “no” there was a perception that voting yes would be a vote for sharia law.
The military are to a large degree responsible for this situation because they rushed to hold the referendum, feeling it would boost their mandate. But they did not do a great job of explaining what the referendum meant, and two days before it took place people weren’t sure if the referendum was even going to happen.
How large a role are Islamist parties likely to have in parliamentary elections?
We are due to have elections in six months time and it’s clear that the MB is going to play a big part. There is, however, a healthy suspicion of the Islamists, partly because of years of state propaganda against them and partly because of their stance on some issues – for instance, people complain that they care more about Palestine than Egypt.
The Islamist scene is nonetheless diverse. You have the MB as well as offshoots which are more reformist and liberal. Then there are those groups which are more fundamentalist and conservative, such as the Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya which used to be a terrorist group operating mostly in Upper Egypt in the Eighties and Nineties, although they have since renounced violence.
The Salafists are something of an enigma because they have been taking a public stance in recent weeks - they were very active during the referendum, and bearded guys campaigning makes good television - but traditionally they do not like to get involved in politics.
What non-religious political groupings are emerging?
On the secular side a lot of different parties are being formed. There are several being set up with a socialist agenda and some with one key personality driving them. For instance, one has been founded by businessman Naguib Sawiris called the Free Egyptians Party which has a pro-market social democratic theme, which is where I think the consensus is heading.
Most of these parties have been started from scratch, and then you have the more veteran groups. These are suffering leadership crises because of various long-time rivalries. A lot of people have declared their interest in running for president because it is a prestigious role. There is an awareness among the secular parties though that as we get closer to elections they will need to build a coalition to be more of a political force.
What are likely to be the decisive issues in the elections?
The major issue in the upcoming elections is going to be the economy. It has been hit very hard. The predicted GDP growth of seven per cent has fallen to about one per cent. For two months, many people have simply not been able to work. The majority of Egyptians are quite poor and this has literally meant less food on the table. People are actually hungry.
Also likely to be important is stability and social justice. There is a fear in the country, looking at current events in Libya and what has happened in Iraq and Lebanon, of division and sectarianism, of a sustained situation of chaos. But at the same time, people are clear in their demands - they not going to accept the return of rampant corruption, low salaries and the exploitation of the poor.
Daniella Peled is an IWPR editor in London.
