Egypt: Tahrir Ready For Elections – OpEd

By Roland Bijamov

Protesters clashing with police, people injured and killed – that’s how Egypt is preparing for its first post-Mubarak parliamentary elections.

Thousands of people have crowded Cairo’s central Tahrir square. They comprise young rebels, activists and politicians who want the military government to immediately transfer power to civilian politicians. The demonstrators have called their rally the second revolution of wrath and the last chance for the Supreme Military Council to accept their revolutionary ideals. A couple of hours ago, the government appointed a new Prime Minister, economist Dr. Kamal el-Ganzouri, 78. He served as the country’s PM from 1996 to 1999. However, the protesters are still not happy – youngsters are concerned about the generation gap between them and the new PM while others recall that having worked under Mubarak’s regime he may be a supporter of his ideas. Nevertheless, it’s not the Prime Minister but his power that matters.

On Friday, the Supreme Council pledged to transfer all its powers to Ganzouri but time will show what will happen. Now the situation has become really heated.

On Monday, Egypt will hold the first round of elections. While the majority of the protesters consider the elections secondary, many political forces, namely the Muslim Brotherhood want them to take place as soon as possible as the party is likely to get the majority of seats in the parliament. The only issue the parties are united on is their negative attitude to the recent US statement urging the military government to step down and to meet the requirements put forward by the protesters. People in Egypt are strongly against any external interference even under the pretext of promoting democracy.