Egypt votes for Mubarak's last PM or Islamist
Source: Agencies |
June 18, 2012, Monday
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EGYPTIANS voted for a second day yesterday in a presidential runoff pitting Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister against a conservative Islamist, with a sense of gloom hanging over many at the polls over the choice and the prospect the ruling military will still hold most power even after their nominal handover of authority to civilians by July 1.
In a sign of how much power they wield, the generals would define the next president's authority in an interim constitutional declaration that state media said could come by today. Under the declaration, the council of generals would be the nation's legislators and control the budget after the Islamist-dominated parliament was dissolved under a court order last week.
The generals will also likely take on the parliament's task of appointing a 100-member assembly to write the permanent constitution, giving them enormous influence over the document that will shape Egypt's future and allowing the opportunity to enshrine for themselves a political say.
As a result, for some voters even as they stood in sweltering heat at the polls, it seemed that the choice for Mubarak's successor - between Ahmed Shafiq, a longtime friend and admirer of Mubarak, and Mohammed Morsi, the candidate of the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood - would ultimately make little difference.
"I don't trust the whole thing. I feel everything is planned in advance and what we are doing now is just part of the plan," Asmaa Fadil, a young woman who wears the Muslim veil, said at a polling station in the Cairo district of Sayeda Zeinab. She said she had lost confidence in the political process, particularly after the dissolution of parliament.
After the first day of voting ended on Saturday, the Brotherhood sought to rally the public behind it, saying that a Morsi win for the presidency was now the only hope for the revolution after the military's consolidation of power.
In a statement issued late Saturday after a meeting of its top leaders, the Brotherhood denounced Thursday's court ruling dissolving parliament, saying it "amounted to a coup against the entire democratic process parliament and take us back to square one." The fundamentalist group led the now-dissolved parliament with just under half its seats.
It also criticized new powers that were given to military police and intelligence last week to arrest civilians for a host of crimes - as minor as blocking traffic. The powers will "recreate the climate of terror and oppression and crush the people's hope for change."
In a sign of how much power they wield, the generals would define the next president's authority in an interim constitutional declaration that state media said could come by today. Under the declaration, the council of generals would be the nation's legislators and control the budget after the Islamist-dominated parliament was dissolved under a court order last week.
The generals will also likely take on the parliament's task of appointing a 100-member assembly to write the permanent constitution, giving them enormous influence over the document that will shape Egypt's future and allowing the opportunity to enshrine for themselves a political say.
As a result, for some voters even as they stood in sweltering heat at the polls, it seemed that the choice for Mubarak's successor - between Ahmed Shafiq, a longtime friend and admirer of Mubarak, and Mohammed Morsi, the candidate of the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood - would ultimately make little difference.
"I don't trust the whole thing. I feel everything is planned in advance and what we are doing now is just part of the plan," Asmaa Fadil, a young woman who wears the Muslim veil, said at a polling station in the Cairo district of Sayeda Zeinab. She said she had lost confidence in the political process, particularly after the dissolution of parliament.
After the first day of voting ended on Saturday, the Brotherhood sought to rally the public behind it, saying that a Morsi win for the presidency was now the only hope for the revolution after the military's consolidation of power.
In a statement issued late Saturday after a meeting of its top leaders, the Brotherhood denounced Thursday's court ruling dissolving parliament, saying it "amounted to a coup against the entire democratic process parliament and take us back to square one." The fundamentalist group led the now-dissolved parliament with just under half its seats.
It also criticized new powers that were given to military police and intelligence last week to arrest civilians for a host of crimes - as minor as blocking traffic. The powers will "recreate the climate of terror and oppression and crush the people's hope for change."
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