Egyptian elections — here we go
by zoss in egyptos, politikaCan’t get myself to read about the campaign kick-off, but when it happens, I would like to check Baheyya’s analysis, Levinson’s review on arabist, El Amrani’s report in Cairo magazine, and Shaw’s analysis of Mubarak’s twisted image.
Comment by Kira Zalan — 30/8/2005 @ 16:49
A blogger named Baheya recognized the significance of the presidential run-off as a “huge, reluctant concession, one whose long-term consequences neither he [Mubarak] nor his successors can anticipate or control. Most unwillingly, Mubarak is actually abetting the rapid deterioration of the mystique surrounding the Egyptian president. And that’s a very good thing.”
The most important part of this quasi-election are the long-term consequences. Tarek Atia brilliantly notes that the election logo that has become “a permanent fixture on [national] channels… may change things. Intentional or not, the flag immediately attracts young children. “What is that?” they ask their parents. The typical response would probably be much like what Kamelia Hamed told her son when he asked, that the flag is part of the election campaign, which is a process by which the public chooses their leader from among several candidates.
In that simple exchange, a revolution of sorts has already occurred.”