PoliticsEgypt: Military junta: Disqualifies 3 leading Prez candidates and 7 more out of 23

Egypt's military junta has arrogated to itself the role of arbiter for acceptable candidacies to the office of the country's President, after the displacement of former dictator Hosni Mubarek.  The Presidential election is scheduled for May 23-24.

An interesting development in the wake of the junta's action is the possiblity of a split between two potential candidates with Muslim Brotherhood backgrounds.  A third MB figure is among the leading disqualifieds, Khairat el-Shater (English spellings vary), who had been incarcerated as a criminal under the previous Mubarek régime.  At first the Brotherhood had planned not to run any candidate at all, which incensed a prominant member to leave the organization, Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh, currently Secretary-General of the Arab Medical Union, and considered by some to be "a moderate."

   Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh Abdel Hady

Dr. Fitouh left the Muslim Brotherhood and its political wing called the Freedom and Justice Party (headed by Mohammed Mursi).  After the MB's externally-sudden shift from non-contestant in the election to favour the running of its own candidate, it nominated as well an alternative but emphasized Kairat el-Shater as its first choice.  The Brotherhood was aware of El-Shater's disfavour with the junta, since the Mubarek days.

  

   Kairat el-Shater

Pictured in a photo (above, AP photo by Nasser Nasser), El- Shater on Friday called for "a million-man march" to "the [public] squares of liberation again to complete the march of the revolution."  The cagey MB, named alongside El-Shater alternative candidate Mursa in order to have a back-up plan;  apparently he had gained no  criminal status.

   

   Omar Suleiman

Another of the 3 leading disqualifeds, Omar Suleiman was "spy chief" for Mubarek and briefly served as stand-in when Mubarek was forced to stand down.  Suleiman has h+ standing with the junta, as a result, but low esteem among Islamicists and Salafists.

The third of the leading candidates dumped by the military thru its puppet electoral commission is Hazen Abu Ismail who is "an ultra-conservative Salafist," an Islamicist ideology which woud impose a strict and punitive Sharia-law régime.  Civil r+ts woud be curtailed severely, and the extermination of Christians and homosexuals seem to be major intentions.  In comparison, the Muslim Brotherhood is somet+ms laid out as "pragmatic Islamicism" — evoking a parallel to the ruling Islamicist party of Turkey, the latter also in conflict with its military over secularism.  But the comparison between ideological puritianism and Muslim pragmatism does not hold up well.  

   Amr Moussa, World Policy Conference, December 2k11

Interestingly, while the 3 and another 7 have been disqualified, another figure, one active in government under Mubarek,  Amr Moussa, had left his post as foreign minister to become Secretary-General of the Arab League (which itself is now trying to end Syrian govt repression, after the organization had largely supported the previous Egyptian repression under Mubarek, and that of Sudan before the secession of South Sudan).  The junta disqualified anyone who had been part of the Mubarek régime during the last 10 years; Moussa changed posts 11 years ago.  So he has not been disqualified (yet) from running.  Among all the candidates, he seems most l+kly to work for internal peace in Egypt, including perhaps a more conciliatory approach to the country's 6 million Christians who are largely on the outs+d of the political process, living in dread of an Islamicist repression that seems to be waiting in the wings.

Also, at this juncture, the process of wr+ting a new Constitution for the country has been delayed; Parliament has not been assembled, and the 100 member commission for Constitution wr+ting is being boycotted by the 2-person delegation to represent Christians, becawz the process is considered by them and many secularists, to be a sham.  Individual and communal liberty will not be guaranteed to those not locked into the Islamic fortress-mentality.  (On this, please see ForeignPolicy.com, Apr16,2k12); also ComparativeConstitutions.org email newsletter, Apr16,2k12.)

At present, refWr+t is endorsing a Muslim non-Islamicist, Amr Moussa, for President of Egypt.

— Politicarp, refWrite's frontpage politics columnist

Follow @Owlb, refWrite frontpage general editor

Cross-posted to refWrite-experimental.

Main news sources & background materials: 

"Mass protests brewing in Egypt, after 3 leading Presidential candidates are disqualified," by Patrick Goodenough (Apr16,2k12) CNSnews.com

"Egypt's transition imbroglio" by Nathan Brtown (Apr16,2k11) Foreign Policy via ComparativeConstitutions email newsletter

Wikipedia — articles on Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, Omar Suleiman & Amr Moussa

YouTube (see refWr+t's YouTube collection of politics videos yUT2ube — subscribe!)

PoliticsEgypt: Parliamentary Vote: Stage 3 of the historic voting will include Egypt's rural areas and some urban centres in the midst of these

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"The Corner" feature of National Review (December 15, 2k11)
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Hat Tip to Dr. Paul Marshall; thanks to author Samuel Tadros
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The Egyptian Elections:  What to Expect in Round 2 December 13, 2011 4:03 P.M. By Samuel Tadros On Wednesday and Thursday, Egyptians will head to the polls for the second stage of the country’s lengthy parliamentary elections. Unlike the first stage, which included Cairo and Alexandria, this stage will take place mostly in the countryside. So far the Islamists have won 69 percent of the seats in the first stage. This result will be repeated in the second stage with an increased percentage. The Islamist tsunami will only gain strength as it moves into more friendly districts. In the second stage, nine Egyptian governates will be voting to elect 180 members of parliament. Those governates will include for the first time the heart of the Nile Delta, Monofia, Sharkia, and Behira. They will also include Giza, with its urban and rural districts, the Suez Canal governates Ismailia and Suez, as well as the Bani Suif and the southern governates Sohag and Aswan. Providing more proof of how chaotic the electoral process has been, the election commission has indicated today that it will implement a court order stopping party-list elections in Behira’s 2nd, Sohag’s 2nd, and Monofia’s 1st districts, representing 24 seats. In those areas voters will only vote to fill individual seats. Party-list elections in those areas will be take place simultaneously with the runoff elections for the individual seats next week. In preparation for the second stage, and after the shock of their terrible performance, the non-Islamist parties have attempted to offer a unified front to counter the Islamist onslaught. The main non-Islamist parties have agreed on a list of candidates to back on the individual seats, while each maintain their separate lists on the party list seats. This will be the test of their combined power, though it is quite doubtful that it will be of any actual value. Please read the complete article ...

PoliticsEgypt: 2nd place party: Even more Shariah-supremecist than Muslim Brotherhood, the hardline Salafists of the al-Nour Party gain 25% of votes

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Christian Post (December7,2k11)
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Salafi party plans to bar Christians 

from executive posts in Egypt

By Sami K. Martin | Christian Post Contributor

The Salafi al-Nour party may have come in second during the recent Egyptian elections, but they feel as though they have already won and are planning big changes for the country.

The Muslim Brotherhood actually won this round of elections, but the Nour party took 25 percent of the votes, giving them a noticeable presence in the new government. They intend on using any and all influence to bring the country back to its religious roots.

One of the biggest changes will be the implementation of Shariah law, which many commentators say would set the country’s progress toward democracy backwards.

Spokesman Yousseri Hamed told reporters: “The mechanism of democracy suits me, like elections and ballot boxes to choose my representative. The idea that the people make their own laws and decide what is prohibited and what is permitted, we reject that.”

Salafists rigorously adhere to the Quran and push for an extreme version of Shariah law not often seen in most other Islamic groups. According to reports: “Salafis follow a puritan school of Islam that was revived in Egyptin the 1970s by university students.”

It emerged in the political scene not long after President Mubarak was overthrown. Many political analysts fear that democracy may not proceed if Islamic parties win power. Others felt the elections would be overwhelming and Egyptians would vote for the party most known and familiar.

PoliticsEgypt: Parliamentary Elections: Voting begins

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Huffington Post (November 23, 2k11)
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Egypt Elections: Voting 

begins in 1st parliamentary 

polls since historic revolt

CAIRO -- Voting began on Monday in Egypt's first parliamentary elections since longtime authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak was ousted in a popular uprising nine months ago.

The vote is a milestone many Egyptians hope will usher in a democratic age after decades of dictatorship.

But the ballot has already has been marred by turmoil in the streets, and the population is sharply polarized and confused over the nation's direction.

Still, the vote promises to be the fairest and cleanest election in Egypt in living memory. The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest and best organized group, along with its Islamist allies are expected to do well in the vote.

Voters stood in long lines outside some polling centers in Cairo well before they opened at 8 a.m. local time, a rare sign of interest in political participation after decades of apathy created by the mass rigging of every vote.

"I am voting for freedom. We lived in slavery. Now we want justice in freedom," said 50-year-old Iris Nawar as she was about to vote in the district of Maadi, a Cairo suburb.

"We are afraid of the Muslim Brotherhood. But we lived for 30 years under Mubarak, we will live with them too," said Nawar, a fist-time voter.

In the upscale neighborhood of Zamalek, some 500 voters waited in line outside a polling station at a school. Shahira Ahmed, 45, was there with her husband and daughter. Like Nawar, Ahmed had never cast a ballot before.

"I never voted because I was never sure it was for real. This time, I hope it is, but I am not positive. The most important thing is to have a liberal and a civilized country, I mean no fanatics," she said, alluding to the Islamists, who hope their domination of the next parliament will bring them closer to realizing their dream of creating an Islamic Egypt.

EgyptElections: Campaign: Military govt tries to steer revolutionaries to self-defeat

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URLs for various press reports follow, which I had commented on adequately, but which text has somehow gone missing.   Try clicking up these reports for yourself, if you're interested.

The date of the election is November 30, 2k11!

A last minute message from We are all Khaled Said page on Facebook:

After a long struggle Egyptians abroad have won their right to vote but until this moment, only 314497 have registered online to vote from abroad. The government estimates that there are 8 million Egyptians living and working abroad. At least half this number have the right to vote.

If you are an Egyptian living abroad, please register online to vote at the elections 2011 governemnt website. YOUR Vote COUNTS.

Register Online to be able to vote from abroad in the Egyptian national elections starting on 28th November.

Here's the website's Arabic-language mass-educational video:


Massive demonstration in Cairo's Tahrir Square - CNN.com

Cairo (CNN) -- Tens of thousands of Egyptians turned out in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday to protest plans for a constitution that would shield the military from public oversight.

The throng, dominated by Islamist parties but also including secular forces, comes ahead of upcoming parliamentary elections set to begin on November 28.

Egypt has been ruled by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces since the departure of President Hosni Mubarak earlier this year. The military said it wants to transfer power to a civilian parliament and president.

But protesters are upset about proposed principles for the constitution, in which the military's budget would not be scrutinized by civilian powers. They worry that the military would be shaped as a state within a state.

The outpouring reflects the power of Islamist forces in Egypt, particularly the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party.

Egypt court permits members of Mubarak's party to run in upcoming elections - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

A top Egyptian court on Monday overturned a decision barring members of President Hosni Mubarak's former party from standing in a parliamentary election that starts later this month.

Read more ... click the time-stamp below .... 

PoliticsEgypt: Medicine: Muslim Brotherhood wins voters thru its clinics

BBC (July11,2k11)

 

11 July 2011 Last updated at 18:19 ETHelp

Elections have yet to be held in Egypt since the revolution that saw —President Mubarak deposed, leaving ordinary Egyptians in the dark about their future.

All eyes are now on the elections scheduled for September. Dozens of parties have been formed, including one linked to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Banned under President Mubarak, its years of charitable work have given it a head start.

George Alagiah reports.

PoliticsEgypt: Digital Revolution: With Mubarak gone, army is the state power

Reuters carries a full page of pictures with captioning lead-ins to stories on the big changes in Egypt.  The scrolldown spread is a good way to orient yourself to the most recent events, implications, and conundrums of the Digital Revolution in the Arab world's most populous country.


The main question now is:  what role, what status for the Muslim Brotherhood and the impositon of Sharia Law in Egypt?  A Norwegian Muslim democrat gives his view of the dangers the MB brings to Europe and we can only imagine regarding the game they will play against democracy and freedom in Egypt.  his views are presented on Dokumente2, Norwegian television, in Norwegian language with English subtitles.





Hat Tip to Linda, commenter #10  on Jesus Creed (Feb11,2k11). You can view it also on refWrite's YouTube channel, yUT2ube.


Another answer to the main political question in Egypt today is that presented in the Jerusalem Post a few days back:

Muslim Brotherhood text reveals scope of radical creed

By OREN KESSLER  
02/09/2011 02:09 

Translated by Palestinian Media Watch, book details group’s goal of global Islamic conquest.

Talkbacks (52)

One of the greatest beneficiaries of the unrest in Egypt has been the Muslim Brotherhood.

Banned but tolerated for decades by successive Egyptian regimes, the Islamist movement is now emerging as a central player in the country’s resurgent opposition.

RELATED:
Playing chess with the Muslim Brotherhood
The Region: Rulers by proxy

Analysis: Dangerously underestimating the Muslim Brotherhood 


-- Politicarp

PoliticsEgypt: Transition: Israel sends Defense Minister to UN and Washington

Jerusalem Post (Feb8,2k11)

Photo by: Associated Press

Jerusalem relieved at 

seeming stabilization in Egypt

By HERB KEINON  
02/08/2011 23:48 


Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak heads to US amidst concerns of mixed signals from Washington; diplomatic source says US zigzagging on Egyptian unrest creates feeling of insecurity:  "If US doesn't know what to do, who's in charge?"


... Barak left Tuesday for two days of talks in New York and Washington.  He is expected to focus on the rapidly changing situation in Egypt, while sources in Jerusalem began expressing relief that it seemed as if Egypt had stepped back from the verge of anarchy.


"Anarchy in Egypt is not good for Egypt, or for us, " one official said, adding that it appeared now as if the situaiton had stabilized a bit and there woud bean orderly transition to reform and elections. 


RELATED:
US looks to reassure Israel as protests roil Middle East
Terra Incognita: Careful what we wish for

Israeli government sources said that Barak was not going to Washington to give advice to the US on how to deal with the situation in Egypt, and that Israel was not in any position to give the US advice on the matter.

"We have our insights that we share with friends, but we don't give advice," he said.

Nevertheless, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, at times bucking the international tide, has over the last number of days called for caution in dealing with the Egyptian situation, warning that the upheaval there could lead not to democracy, but rather to Iranian-style tyranny.

Since the crisis began, there has been constant consultation between Jerusalem and Washington, government sources said.

One source said that the zigzagging of US policy on Egypt – from seeming to abandonEgyptian President Hosni Mubarak at the beginning of the crisis to recognizing now that a quick exit would lead to further chaos – has led to questions about whether the US has a clear policy in the Middle East.

"This creates a feeling of insecurity – that the Americans are not sure what to do," the source said. He said that while in the past the US radiated a sense of purpose when acting in the Middle East – even if one disagreed with their actions – the events of the last two weeks left a feeling that the Administration was not sure how to act.   And if the Americans don't know what to do, he said, then "who is in charge?"


-- Jerusalem Post material posted by Politicarp

Set as Homepage Wed, Feb 9, 2011   5 Adar I, 5771

 

• JPost.com
• Middle East

jerusalem Post (Feb9,2k11)

Muslim Brotherhood text reveals scope of radical creed

By OREN KESSLER  
02/09/2011 02:09 

Translated by Palestinian Media Watch, book details group’s goal of global Islamic conquest.