Post-revolution polls in Egypt

Is Shafiq seen by Egyptians as the best candidate to improve the economy?

I'm wondering why there is so much support for one of Mubarak's cronies. I suppose the military is backing him too? Tourism has been way down since the uprising.
 
Puppycow said:
Is Shafiq seen by Egyptians as the best candidate to improve the economy?

I'm wondering why there is so much support for one of Mubarak's cronies. I suppose the military is backing him too? Tourism has been way down since the uprising.
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It's security more than the economy, really. Shafiq says he'll make the streets and cities safe again - after the revolt against Mubarak, the police basically stopped doing anything (well, anything that didn't involve clubbing protesters, anyway). Restoring security will have the side effect of restoring tourism (since tourists don't really want to visit places they'll be shot, robbed, or kidnapped).

Of course, restoring security to the way things were under Mubarak will basically make the whole revolution pointless, in the minds of many. This is actually something a lot of Shafiq's opponents have attacked him on.
 
I guess the whole democracy thing isn't working out:

Egypt's highest court declares parliament invalid

Cairo (CNN) -- Egypt's highest court declared the parliament invalid Thursday, and the country's interim military rulers promptly declared full legislative authority, triggering a new level of chaos and confusion in the country's leadership.

The Supreme Constitutional Court found that all articles making up the law that regulated parliamentary elections are invalid, said Showee Elsayed, a constitutional lawyer.

The ruling means that parliament must be dissolved, state TV reported.

Parliament had been in session for just over four months. It was dominated by Islamists, a group long viewed with suspicion by the military.

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, in control of the country since Mubarak's ouster, announced that it now has full legislative power and will announce a 100-person assembly that will write the country's new constitution by Friday.
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10 REM Egyptian Democracy
20 OUST leadership
30 HOLD vote
40 TALLY vote
50 IF vote = statusquo, GOTO 20
60 IF vote = islamists, GOTO 80
70 GOTO 30
80 REM Court Decision
90 REINSTATE statusquo
100 GOTO 20
 
Eddie Dane said:
Eh, was this a coup?

Or is it just being nudged back to a "guided democracy"?
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The latter. The military has always been in control - this is SCAF merely taking back the bone they'd tossed to the people in the wake of the revolution last year.
 
Puppycow said:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/18/us-egypt-election-idUSBRE85G01U20120618

The Brotherhood declares victory but Shafik disputes the claim. Nothing official yet.
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Not that it matters, since the military is re-tightening its grip - SCAF is taking back legislative authority after they dissolved parliament, and while they say they'll turn over executive power to the elected president, they're granting only a limited set of powers to that president (for instance, the president won't be able to declare war without the permission of the military).
 
ANTPogo said:
Not that it matters, since the military is re-tightening its grip - SCAF is taking back legislative authority after they dissolved parliament, and while they say they'll turn over executive power to the elected president, they're granting only a limited set of powers to that president (for instance, the president won't be able to declare war without the permission of the military).
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A commentator on Dutch radio just said that they basically give the president all the problems (economy, tourism, agriculture etc.) and grant him a very limited set of legal tools to work with.

So, a powerless lame duck with truckload of unsolvable problems for the media and the population to focus on.
 
Talk about out of the frying pan. In ten years' time most Egyptians will fondly recall their life pre-revolution and talk about the good old days.
 
I'm having trouble getting excited about what's happening in Egypt. It seems to me to be like watching a hyena and a lion fighting over which one gets to eat the gazelle.
 
I find the situation in Egypt sad, disappointing and predictable.

The Arab Spring has not turned out as I would have hoped.

Egypt - has not gone well
Tunisia - Islamist party (albeit moderate) in power
Bahrain - Never got off the ground
Syria - Being brutally repressed
Libya - Transitional council still in place
 
Morsi is apparently doing his best to at least appear as a moderate, even now that he's won the election:

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/06/26/world/meast/egypt-politics/

Egypt's first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, will appoint a woman as one of his vice presidents and a Christian as another, his policy adviser told CNN.

"For the first time in Egyptian history -- not just modern but in all Egyptian history -- a woman will take that position," Ahmed Deif told CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Monday. "And it's not just a vice president who will represent a certain agenda and sect, but a vice president who is powerful and empowered and will be taking care of critical advising within the presidential Cabinet."
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This despite, as the above article notes, earlier supporting a ban on women from the presidency.

And I found the fact that his transition team adviser's name is "Jihad Haddad" to be amusing, in a gallows-humor sort of way.
 
I'm really confused. I'm pretty damn sure I remember everyone reassuring me back when Mubarak was toppled that there was absolutely no way the Muslim Brotherhood was going to gain control in Egypt. That was a silly right-wing bogey man; Egypt was secularist and reasonable.

Did I miss something?
 
gumboot said:
I'm really confused. I'm pretty damn sure I remember everyone reassuring me back when Mubarak was toppled that there was absolutely no way the Muslim Brotherhood was going to gain control in Egypt. That was a silly right-wing bogey man; Egypt was secularist and reasonable.

Did I miss something?
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The 400 kilogram cynic in the corner munching on the detritus of the naive perhaps?
 
Morsi might run the day to day affairs with the military setting red lines like not going after the corrupt business empires of the senior officers.

Still, Egyptians elected a fascist and a supremacist as their representative. That's contemptible.
 
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