Today, the official election results were released by the Presidential Election Commission (Bassem Sabry swears there's no "Supreme" in front of it, but the hashtag on Twitter is #SPEC). Egypt has been in a semi-controlled state of turmoil since election results first trickled out on Thursday evening. Apparently, this was the final stimulus to send Egypt back to protests.
An update on the news: Presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq's campaign headquarters in Cairo has been set on fire. Protesters have filled Tahrir Square and Alexandria, tearing apart flyers in the campaign offices, and Shafiq's villa has been graffitied. Aboul Fotouh, Sabahi, Khaled Ali and Amr Moussa have disavowed any cooperation with Mohammed Morsi's campaign. Egypt is divided.
This plays right into the hands of Ahmed Shafiq. If Morsi, Aboul Fotouh, Sabahi, Ali and Moussa are united in any respect, it is in their collective desire to never see Shafiq become president. Thus far, even that desire has not led to any sort of unity among themselves or their supporters. Instead, calls range from boycott to a coup to protests.
Sabahi has appeared on television condemning the burning of Shafiq's headquarters and supporting non-violent protest. But Egyptians are inflamed with anger right now at perceptions of an unjust election. Rumors abound of 900,000 police conscripts voting for Ahmed Shafiq and other election irregularities, but as of now, they're just rumors.
All of this plays right into the hands of Ahmed Shafiq. If I didn't know better, I'd say Shafiq staged all of this today. The burning down of the headquarters, protests when Egypt has lost its appetite for continued protest, divisiveness and anger; Shafiq is the "law-and-order" candidate. This is what he promises to control, by whatever means necessary. That prospect is extremely troubling, but if protesters can't be non-violent, Shafiq could actually win in the runoff.
There's still a month before Egyptians go to the polls again. But these early indicators are troubling. Hopefully, the chaos of today causes supporters of rival candidates and campaigns to rethink calls for unity, and Egypt can stop the rise of Ahmed Shafiq.
An update on the news: Presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq's campaign headquarters in Cairo has been set on fire. Protesters have filled Tahrir Square and Alexandria, tearing apart flyers in the campaign offices, and Shafiq's villa has been graffitied. Aboul Fotouh, Sabahi, Khaled Ali and Amr Moussa have disavowed any cooperation with Mohammed Morsi's campaign. Egypt is divided.
This plays right into the hands of Ahmed Shafiq. If Morsi, Aboul Fotouh, Sabahi, Ali and Moussa are united in any respect, it is in their collective desire to never see Shafiq become president. Thus far, even that desire has not led to any sort of unity among themselves or their supporters. Instead, calls range from boycott to a coup to protests.
Sabahi has appeared on television condemning the burning of Shafiq's headquarters and supporting non-violent protest. But Egyptians are inflamed with anger right now at perceptions of an unjust election. Rumors abound of 900,000 police conscripts voting for Ahmed Shafiq and other election irregularities, but as of now, they're just rumors.
All of this plays right into the hands of Ahmed Shafiq. If I didn't know better, I'd say Shafiq staged all of this today. The burning down of the headquarters, protests when Egypt has lost its appetite for continued protest, divisiveness and anger; Shafiq is the "law-and-order" candidate. This is what he promises to control, by whatever means necessary. That prospect is extremely troubling, but if protesters can't be non-violent, Shafiq could actually win in the runoff.
There's still a month before Egyptians go to the polls again. But these early indicators are troubling. Hopefully, the chaos of today causes supporters of rival candidates and campaigns to rethink calls for unity, and Egypt can stop the rise of Ahmed Shafiq.
No comments:
Post a Comment