Mirror Mirror on the Wall, Who is the Fairest of Them All?

Four front runners competing for the post of President of the largest demographically Arab country: Egypt.  The time is short, and the elections are to be held around mid-May.  At this time, out of nearly 1000 would be candidates, only four of them are in the lead.

These are: Amr Moussa, former Secretary-General of the League of Arab States; Abdel-Monim Abu-Elfotouh, formerly of the Muslim Brotherhood, now the head of the Freedom and Justice Party of Egypt, with Brotherhood solid connections; Khairat El-Shatter, the economic and financial brain of the Muslim Brotherhood; and Omar Soliman, former head of Intelligence and former Vice-President of Egypt in the days leading to the collapse of the Mubarak regime.

Who is the Fairest of Them All?  The mirror on the wall is a bit foggy and this blogger cannot read the tea leaves.  Beyond the four front runners named above, there are others who are still in the race, and yet others who are being pushed out of the race.  In the first category, the numbers are too many to count; in the second category (the pushed out), there is the Salafi would-be candidate, Abu-Ismail whose credentials were called into question from his late mother's grave (she was a U.S. citizen -a disqualification).  In the same category, there is Dr. El-Baradie, former Director-General of the UN-affiliated International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) who pushed himself out of the maddening melee.

Had the Revolution of January 25, 2011 been true to itself, Muhammad El-Baradie, a Noble Peace Prize Laureate, should have been declared presidential candidate by acclamation.  But like every revolution, with the US Revolution of 1776 against British domination the only exception, the Egyptian Revolution has swallowed up those who planted the first seeds.  Thus the first potential leader who, under Mubarak's nose, called for freedom and democracy in the then-dictatorial Egypt, El-Baradie was side-lined.  In fact I was afraid that the Mubarak regime might "rub him off," to use the language of the Mafia.  Perhaps, his high world-wide visibility saved his life.  Charisma, his opponents, especially Amr Moussa, claimed was a Baradie-deficiency; his long career abroad, others alleged, made his connection to a complex Egypt rather weak.

Looking into the magic globe at the four front-runners for candidacy for the top job in Egypt, one can see potential problems overwhelming their election by a clear majority.

Amr Moussa had served under Mubarak as a foreign minister.  Abdel-Monim Abu-Elfotouh does not have the backing of the Muslim Brotherhood which commands 50% of seats in the new Parliament.  El-Shatter's candidacy  was like a Johnny-Come-Lately.  The Muslim brotherhood hurriedly pushed that candidacy forward, just a few days before the deadline for papers filing was upon them.  It was a sudden switch, which began with "no nomination from the Brotherhood for President," to "our concern for Egypt caused us to nominate El-Shatter for president."

As to ideology, Abu-Elfotouh is ideologically to the left of the Brotherhood and is an advocate of diversity.  El-Shatter is calling for a modified application of Sharia (Islamic Law).  And Oman Soliman seems destined for failure in his bid, having been the face of a brutalizing Egyptian intelligence for most of his tenure under Mubarak.  As a military man, a General, he is suspected to have the backing of the SCAF (the Supreme Council of Armed Forces).  Yet the SCAF days may come to an end on July 1st of this year.

The mix of presidential aspirants is a bit confusing.  The walls of Egypt everywhere is plastered by electioneering ads.  In fact the traffic in Cairo is super-snarled because of street closures when a candidate is campaigning.  And the Copts, especially after the passing of Pope Shenouda, are guessing at what the future might hold.  So are women, together with the creators of Egyptian art and films.  Egypt desperately needs tourism and trade.

Who is the fairest of them all? Who knows!!

The only certainty is that neither Amr Moussa, nor El-Shatter nor Abu-Elfotouh nor Soliman was in Tahrir Square on Day One when the Revolution of January 25, 2011 erupted.  They seem to have waited to see whether it would topple Mubarak before they decided that the time was ripe to surf the wave to the highest position in the land.  Each one of the above-named gentlemen has a revolutionary deficiency. 

The young who made that epic Revolution, the first popular one since 1919, seem, at least for now, to have gone under that wave.