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Elections
For Egypt's Voters, Revolution Feels Light Years Away
![[Photographed by AFP. Image originally posted on Egypt Independent.]](/content_images/3/sm_751855-01-02.jpg "[Photographed by AFP. Image originally posted on Egypt Independent.]")
The first presidential election following a popular uprising celebrated for giving Egyptians their voice back is not as glorious and exciting as it was expected to be. Instead, it’s marked by fear and disappointment. Having learned throughout the last year and a half that there’s no room for dreamy revolutionary aspirations in the world of electoral politics, most people seem to be choosing their candidate out of fear of the alternatives rather than conviction in their choices. A few days ahead of the big day, a dozen voters from different backgrounds and political inclinations interviewed by Egypt Independent all said that they were choosing “the least bad” option ...
Keep Reading »لماذا سأقاطع الانتخابات الرئاسية؟
![[تصوير مصطفى شيشتاوي]](/content_images/3/sm_imboycotting.jpg "[تصوير مصطفى شيشتاوي]")
سأقاطع الانتخابات لأنها ستجري فى إطار خارطة طريق ملتبسة، تحت إشراف لجنة انتخابات مشكوك فى نزاهتها، لانتخاب رئيس صلاحياته مجهولة، برعاية حاكم عسكري سلطوي. رغم أن الكثيرين يدركون ذلك إلا أنهم يرفضون المقاطعة من منطلق أن المشاركة هي الخيار الواقعي فى ظل عدم وجود بدائل. فلقد جاء رد الكثيرين على المقال الداعي للمقاطعة الذى نشر بالشروق، يوم 23 أبريل، متمثلاً في سؤال: «ما هو البديل؟» السؤال غير منطقي، هذا إذا كنا نؤمن بأننا فى ثورة. إن كانت «الثورة مستمرة» فعلى مؤيديها ألا يقبلوا المشاركة فى انتخابات يتنافسون فيها مع رموز النظام الذي قامت الثورة لإسقاطه. فلو كان جائزاً أن يتنافس مؤيدو الثورة مع مناهضيها في انتخابات قبل أن تحقق الثورة أهدافها، لكان من الأولى أن نقبل بما ...
Keep Reading »Egypt's Presidential Election: Meet the Contenders
![[Abdel-Moneim Abolfotoh, left, and Amr Moussa stand at their podiums on Egypt's first televised presidential debate. Cairo, May 11, 2012. Image by Mahmoud Khaled, Al Masry Al Youm/AP Photo.]](/content_images/3/sm_AP120511013605.jpg "[Abdel-Moneim Abolfotoh, left, and Amr Moussa stand at their podiums on Egypt's first televised presidential debate. Cairo, May 11, 2012. Image by Mahmoud Khaled, Al Masry Al Youm/AP Photo.]")
Egypt’s first presidential election after the ouster of Hosni Mubarak is scheduled to take place on 23 and 24 May 2012, with a possible run-off race on 16 and 17 June 2012. The following guide to the presidential candidates is based on a series of articles published by Egypt Independent. For more information on prominent presidential candidates, click on any of the names below. Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh Khaled Ali Selim al-Awa Hesham al-Bastawisi Abul Ezz al-Hariry Mohamed Morsy Amr Moussa Hamdeen Sabbahi Ahmed Shafiq Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh was the leader of the Cairo University Student Union when he rose ...
Keep Reading »Algerian Elections - 10 May
![[Graphic of the #10MaiToz hashtag used by Algerians on Twitter. Image from Twitter]](/content_images/3/sm_10MaiToz.jpg "[Graphic of the #10MaiToz hashtag used by Algerians on Twitter. Image from Twitter]")
While Algeria may not have seen protests on the scale of its regional neighbors, many Algerians are expressing their political dissent through abstention. On Twitter, the hashtag #10MaiToz was used to post various updates pertaining to police crackdowns on minor protests and voter fraud, with reports of registration under the names of dead people used to vote. Jadaliyya Maghreb Page co-editor, Robert Parks, in his piece "Arab Uprisings and the Algerian Elections: Ghosts from the Past?" analyzed the possibilities of the Algerian elections by examining recent history and the ongoing events in the Maghreb. The following are selected tweets and images ...
Keep Reading »Syrian Parliamentary Elections: Cynicism Wins The Day
![[Image from Wikimedia Commons.]](/content_images/3/sm_800px-The_flag_of_Syrian_Arab_Republic_Damascus,_Syria.jpg "[Image from Wikimedia Commons.]")
Syria’s parliamentary elections are being met with cynicism on the streets of Damascus despite being billed as the first multi-party elections the country has seen in decades. Damascus – The streets of Damascus are covered with pictures of candidates running in the May 7 parliamentary elections. Alongside the images, there are political slogans that many say are out of date and no longer express a coherent agenda. The area east of Jisr al-Thawra near Martyr’s Square — or Marjeh, as Syrians prefer to call it — is one of Damascus’ most famous and poorest markets. Some call it “the thieves’ market,” but the stall owners prefer Souq al-Juma, the Friday Market. Most of the ...
Keep Reading »نعم لمقاطعة الانتخابات الرئاسية
![[تصوير جيجي ابراهيم ]](/content_images/3/sm_boycottelections.jpg "[تصوير جيجي ابراهيم ]")
حتى تاريخ كتابة هذه السطور، نعد نحن المواطنون المصريون الذين ننوي مقاطعة الانتخابات الرئاسية الوشيكة أقلية. يتهمنا الكثيرون بالسلبية وأرى أن قرارنا هو عين الإيجابية بلا شك. بل إنني أرى أن من كانوا معنا على نفس الدرب ثم تركوه، من هتفوا معنا «لا انتخابات تحت حكم العسكر» فى يناير وفبراير، ثم تراجعوا وتنازلوا عن المبدأ، واستمر حكم العسكر، هم السلبيون باستسلامهم لوضع يتسم بالخلل. لطالما حلمت بأن تجري فى مصر انتخابات رئاسية يختار من خلالها الشعب رئيسه، لكن حلمي كان، ولا يزال، أكبر من مجرد مسرحية تتم فى إطار غير ديمقراطي أصلاً، وفي أجواء تتسم بالقمع والديكتاتورية، إضافة إلى انعدام المنطق، والعوار القانوني، والشكوك حول نزاهة الانتخابات ومصداقية العملية الانتخابية ...
Keep Reading »Arab Uprisings and the Algerian Elections: Ghosts from the Past?
![[A rally in the centre of Algiers that was eventually stopped by police. A few hundred people joined the rally holding placards calling for changes to the old regime. February 26, 2011. Image by Boumedienne Merouane/Demotix.]](/content_images/3/sm_605175.jpg "[A rally in the centre of Algiers that was eventually stopped by police. A few hundred people joined the rally holding placards calling for changes to the old regime. February 26, 2011. Image by Boumedienne Merouane/Demotix.]")
In December 2010 and January 2011, Algerians and Tunisians took to the streets. While in Tunisia hundreds of thousands of citizens stood up to bully dictator Zine al-Abdine Ben Ali, to the West, cities across Algeria erupted into widespread rioting. Though the 29 December to 10 January riots were of an intensity not seen since the October 1988 uprising that put an end to the former single-party system of the National Liberation Front (FLN), they dissipated as suddenly as they began, with no bloodshed. Meanwhile, Tunisian mass demonstrations ultimately forced Ben Ali to flee, both marking the Tunisian Revolution of January 14th and debuting the Arab ...
Keep Reading »Epic or Farce: Preliminary Assessment of Iran's Parliamentary Elections (Part One)
![[Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and ‘Ali Khamenei. Photos by Sinaf, via Creative Commons.]](/content_images/3/sm_iran_2012_new.jpg "[Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and ‘Ali Khamenei. Photos by Sinaf, via Creative Commons.]")
The 2nd of March marked Iran’s first nationwide elections since the widely disputed presidential race in June 2009 and its turbulent aftermath. They also hastened the decline of a “president” who owed his second term in office to a “miraculous hand,” a “hand” that, on 2 March, sought to curb Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s influence over the country’s affairs. The embattled head of the executive of branch, whose protégés have dominated Iranian politics for the past seven years, is slowly but surely coming to terms with the realities of Iran’s power structure, namely the will of the Supreme Leader ‘Ali Khamenei and the Revolutionary Guards. Prior to the election, and for the ...
Keep Reading »Post-Elections Egypt: Revolution or Pact?
![[Protesters in Mohamed Mahmoud Street, 19 November 2011. Image Source: Hossam el-Hamalawy, http://www.flickr.com/photos/elhamalawy/]](/content_images/3/sm_6364372591_c351d94dfb.jpg "[Protesters in Mohamed Mahmoud Street, 19 November 2011. Image Source: Hossam el-Hamalawy, http://www.flickr.com/photos/elhamalawy/]")
For many people, it is compelling, if not intuitive, to think of Egypt’s parliamentary elections as a logical extension of what Egyptians started on 25 January 2011. Elections, the conventional reasoning goes, are a critical step in Egypt’s transition toward a democratic form of governance that is poised to replace the decades-old rule of former President Hosni Mubarak’s now-defunct National Democratic Party. Seen from the inside, however, this reasoning seems fairly detached from a much more complex reality. The Universe of Transition It has become embarrassingly obvious for most Egyptians that the advent of parliamentary elections has divided the country into two ...
Keep Reading »Welcome to the New Egyptian ParliaMENt
![[Cartoon: A woman stands outside the male-dominated Egyptian parliament. Image by Ibtisam Barakat.]](/content_images/3/sm_EgyptianparliamentcartoonforjadaliyyaJan21-2012.jpg "[Cartoon: A woman stands outside the male-dominated Egyptian parliament. Image by Ibtisam Barakat.]")
This cartoon is a response to the astonishing fact that the number of women who won seats in the post-Mubarak Egyptian parliamentary elections is a mere eight. Indeed women do not exceed two percent of the total number of elected members. To be more precise, they constitute one and a half percent of the “Parliament of the Revolution.” What can a revolution against "dictatorship" amount to in reality and practice if men who have been dictating policy and social life norms, continue to do so? This comes after the massive upheaval, which women were central to at every step. The shocking outcome in representation reveals much about the social struggles that Egypt ...
Keep Reading »Can Egypt Have a President Without a Constitution?
Everyone is awaiting the outcome of Egypt's first post-Mubarak presidential election with baited breath. For many, the election of a new president will restore the stability Egyptians have been longing for since Mubarak's ouster early last year. For others, a new president means the end of the military's involvement in politics. For others still, the victory of their favorite candidate will usher in a new age of freedom and social justice. All of this is wishful thinking, of course. Most Egyptians don’t ...
Keep Reading »Interview with Egyptian Presidential Candidate Abdel Moneim Abul Fettouh
I interviewed Egyptian presidential candidate Abdel Moneim Abul Fettouh. In three short parts below, Mr. Abul Fettouh discusses the most important aspects of his electoral platform, covering a variety of economic and political issues.
Keep Reading »Algeria's 10 May 2012 Elections: Preliminary Analysis
The results of the 10 May 2012 Algerian legislative elections ran against conventional wisdom, and at least two points will certainly provoke much commentary. First, despite widespread disgruntlement, Algerian voter turnout proved to be significantly higher than predicted by most observers. 42.91 percent of registered Algerians participated – seven percent more than in 2007. Second, and possibly with region-wide ramifications, Algerian voters bucked a major trend of the so-called "Arab Spring": ...
Keep Reading »Egypt's Presidential Duel an Epic Moment (Video)
Millions of Egyptians were glued to their TV sets on Thursday evening, 10 May 2012, watching the first-ever televised debate between the two presidential candidates leading opinion polls in recent weeks. The live telecast—two weeks before the country’s first multi-candidate Presidential elections—was an opportunity for Egyptians to learn more about the two expected election front runners‘ visions for “the new Egypt” and hear their stances vis-a-vis issues like security and the relationship between ...
Keep Reading »جدلية صعود أبو الفتوح وإمكانية استنساخ النموذج الأردوجاني
جاء الصعود السريع لحضور ودور أبو الفتوح في سباق الرئاسة المصرية ليعيد إلى الأذهان تجربة الصعود السياسي لأردوجان في تركيا في نهاية التسعينات وبداية القرن الحادي والعشرين. ولعل العودة إلى السنوات الخمس البارزة في تاريخ النظام السياسي التركي، خصوصا بين عامي 1997- 2002، تعين على فهم وتفسير عمليات وسياسات وسياقات صعود القيادات والحركات السياسية من خلال المقارنة بين أبو الفتوح وأردوجان وكشف جوانب التشابه والاختلاف بين النمطين والسياقين. ويلاحظ بداية أن تجربة خروج أبو الفتوح من عباءة الإخوان تشبه من أوجه ...
Keep Reading »Kuwait's Muslim Brotherhood
Islamist political movements have been sweeping the polls in post Arab uprisings that were sparked not by religious fervor and ideology, but by demands for democracy and freedom. Revolutionaries, who succeeded in toppling dictators such as those in Egypt and Tunisia, resent that Islamists who had little to do with their popular secular rebellions are now reaping the fruits of their efforts and being crowned as victors. More importantly, they are alarmed by the prospects of the formation of religious ...
Keep Reading »Epic or Farce: Preliminary Assessment of Iran's Parliamentary Elections (Part Two)
[Read Part One here.] "Epic" Turnout After the 2 March polls closed, Khamenei said that the turnout had been “one of the highest” throughout the history of the Islamic Revolution. “These elections were a firm and clear answer” to the naysayers, he argued. Yet even without a thorough inspection of the results, it is quite difficult not to question claims about “one of the highest” turnouts in the past thirty-three years. Official figures suggested a sixty-four percent turnout, higher than the ...
Keep Reading »Meet the Head of Egypt's Presidential Election Commission
Egypt is gearing up for the final stages of a tumultuous transitional period under the rule of the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) and preparing to enter a new phase following a scheduled handover of government authority to a newly-elected president at the end of June. The much-anticipated presidential vote is scheduled to be held on 23 and 24 May to elect Egypt's first president since Hosni Mubarak was overthrown in a popular uprising one year ago. The man in charge of overseeing the poll is ...
Keep Reading »Prophetic Politics: Charting a Healthy Role for Religion in Public Life
Walter Brueggemann, The Practice of Prophetic Imagination: Preaching an Emancipatory Word. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2012. Does God take sides in the elections? Is there a voters’ guide hiding in our holy books? Should we pray for electoral inspiration? Secular people tend to answer an emphatic “NO” to those questions, as do most progressive religious folk. Because religious fundamentalists so often present an easy-to-caricature version of faith-based politics—even to the point of implying that God ...
Keep Reading »Having a Conversation on Other Terms: Gender and the Politics of Representation in the New Moroccan Government
The recent parliamentary elections in Morocco have led to the creation of the first ever elected Islamist government in Morocco’s history. After winning more than forty percent of the votes in the November 25th elections, the Party of Justice and Development (PJD) led by Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane formed a coalition government with the socialist Parti du Progrès et du Socialisme (PPS), the nationalist Istiqlal party and the royalist Mouvement Populaire (MP). Benkirane’s first task as Prime ...
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