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.
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.
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.
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.
The coming presidential election in early June brings some hope for the Egyptians who are gasping for a wise and capable leadership that will steer Egypt to stability and prosperity.
Although the early uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt were markedly secular and free of ideology, it was Islamists in both countries that swept the board in recent parliamentary elections. Where did it go wrong for Arab liberal secularists? How can they reconnect with the masses?
It has now been a year since the post-uprising period of the revolution began and the revolutionaries must take a good look at themselves. They do have an incredible amount to give to Egypt, but there are some lessons that must be learnt once and for all.
The Egyptian people have regained their voice. They have begun to express their views and choices in the great debate that runs through the entire length and breadth of the country, extending well beyond the issue of the presidency to political, social and economic life.
The Muslim Brotherhood, together with the military council, is responsible for the dark tunnel we are now fighting to get out of. The Brotherhood allied itself with the military and made the flawed constitutional amendments that it is now complaining about.
The Egyptian youth should organize itself and mobilize the masses (as they did in the initial stages of the revolution) to take to the streets in the millions in support of a single motto: save the revolution.
After Jan. 25, 2011, the MB leadership had a choice: transform the movement into a political party -- or remain as a movement. The choice had not been possible before due to political repression.
Egypt's Presidential Election Commission has deemed ten candidates unqualified for the upcoming election battle to succeed the toppled Hosni Mubarak. They include Omar Suleiman, Mubarak's long time spymaster.
Many are ringing alarm bells about the apparent conversion of Egypt into a theocracy. But the reality may be different -- and we may be heralding the end of the Muslim Brotherhood as a political force completely.
Watching events unfold in Egypt's presidential race over the past few weeks has been like watching a riveting television political thriller of the many episode variety.
