Egypt Update

The riots in Egypt are declining slowly, yet political unrest still defines the nation. The leadership in Egypt is very unstable and likely to bend to political forces. Egypt’s former President Hosni Mubarak has stepped down in compliance to the demands of the masses. Yet he has not gratified all the wishes of the protesters by putting into office the Vice President Omar Suleiman in his place.

In a speech to the nation of Egypt, Mubarak has made it evident to the people, though in a clouded manner, that his position is one of title and does not actually hold much responsibility. The true authority will be in the form of The Supreme Council of Armed Forces, who activated a government takeover last Friday.
The Egyptian government has promised that President Mubarak will be voted out of office by September of 2011, but this decision has left many protesters without satisfaction, and just as angry. As of right now, according to World Magazine, “An eight-member panel of jurists and scholars has launched a fast-track review of Egypt’s constitution—even as the composition of the panel remains a point of controversy since it was announced on Monday. The panel is expected to help provide a roadmap for transition to both parliamentary and presidential elections in the wake of three weeks of street revolt that prompted a military takeover last Friday.”

Though the military has official control of the nation, there is still much instability in the proposition of holding a presidential election. Egypt has only held one other presidential election in its history, the one voting in Mubarak in 2005. That makes this election a very risky procedure, especially in the midst of the violence Egypt and the whole Middle East has been experiencing. There are no overnight fixes for the political and militaristic turmoil Egypt is in. Yet the Egyptian government’s hope is that by September of 2011 there will be sufficient order in the nation to hold a successful presidential election, bringing democracy, peace, and prosperity back to the largest nation in the Middle East.

By: Anne Lehan