If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
The Blog
Many Egyptians may feel confused about what the presidential election means for them and for their country. But there is a time when every revolution reaches the critical pivot point when it should transition from dismantling the past to building a better future. This is that time.
In democracies, voters know what the president's formal, constitutional powers are. And they know for certain. But in Egypt Egyptians will go to vote with no knowledge of what authorities will be vested in the president.
As far back as 2008, members of the progressive advocacy community who focus on poverty were decrying a lack of coverage of rising poverty levels by the media. Since that point, the problem has gotten much worse.
Is misogyny prevalent and gaining traction in the Muslim world and why did most women vote for Islamists in Middle East elections?
The emerging democratic model that Egyptians will produce will most likely become a model for an Arab world longing for an end to autocratic rule that has left Arabs lagging behind the rest of the world.
Egyptians are in a situation they have never known before: for the first time they are taking part in a presidential election without knowing in advance who the next president will be. But the question remains: are these elections really fair?
For Egypt to achieve sustainable democracy, many reforms remain to be implemented, the most important of which is public access to information that permits meaningful government accountability.
Curiously, the next leader of Egypt will have to start this process not knowing what powers the presidency actually has in relation to the parliament or the armed forces.
Egyptians will go to the polls tomorrow to vote in their first-ever competitive presidential election. Whoever wins will have legitimacy in a contest in which tens of millions of voters will choose from a broad range of candidates.
Tens of millions of Egyptians will head to the polls Wednesday to vote for the candidate they hope will move the country from a state of transition to one that is stable and ruled by a civilian government.
It's hard to mask the fact that so much of this campaign was less about Egypt's future economic challenges, and far more about the role of religious and political Islam coursing through Egypt's body politic.
"God bless you, sir. My God, I sometimes say if we had dealt firmly with the kids from the start, President Mubarak would still be honored and respected."
The movement that has swept most states in the region was initially built on social ideals that the political Islamists don't necessarily subscribe to, but joined under the understanding that "the end justifies the means."
As big as the question of who the winner will be, is what the job of the presidency will be like in the short and long term. This new situation in Egypt is an uncertain balancing act between competing forces. We've never been here before.
Egypt has gone through great changes in a short period of time. It shocked the world when the protests, known here as the 25 January Revolution, overthrew the Mubarak regime. Now Egyptians and foreigners alike are eagerly anticipating the next steps.
It remains to be seen how the Salafis will present themselves to the Western world. Will they portray their movement as a replacement for violent groups, as an alternative to al-Qaeda, or as the embodiment of conservative Islam?
