EGYPT’S ELECTION – NO ALARMS AND NO SURPRISES

The results are in—and it’s business as usual in Egypt. After months of wrangling, speculation and rhetoric, President Hosni Mubarak has come through the country’s first multi-candidate Presidential election on September 7th with an 88.6% mandate. Only two of the other nine candidates garnered a noticeable share of the vote, with al-Ghad leader Ayman Nour taking 7.3% and the Wafd’s Nomaan Gomaa a mere 2.3%.

Is anyone surprised by the results? The short answer is no. Most Egyptians have remained fairly cynical about the process from beginning to end, despite talk of the flowering of Egypt’s democracy. Mubarak, during his 25-year tenure, has worked to monopolize Egypt’s political arena, and this election has hardly been an even contest. In most democratic countries, an election victory of 88% would hardly seem credible. But in Egypt, our Pharaonic political culture has meant that no president has ever been subject to a real popular vote. For Mubarak even to have gained 65% (a landslide in anyone else’s book) would have decimated the legitimacy of the regime.

But there’s an old saying that if we want change, things will have to stay the same. Mubarak may be still in power, but the democratic space has undoubtedly been opened up. Such small changes have arguably come in response to domestic and international pressure. Egypt’s government can no longer ignore the issue of democracy- and this election offers an opportunity that should be seized by political parties and civil society alike. Political parties have been given room to manoeuvre, build a constituency, spark citizens' interest in the process, and invest in their future. This is where civil society organisations come in.

The Ibn Khaldun Center has been at the heart of the election process, keeping a keen eye on the regime via our involvement in the Independent Committee for Election Monitoring. Serious issues have emerged surrounding voter turnout, media abuse, intimidation and a host of irregularities. This issue provides full details of the monitoring team’s findings, and also some of the key issues surrounding the vote. The fight for democracy requires international partners, however, and the Center is pleased to provide an update of our activities as part of the Egyptian Democracy Support Network in this issue.