The Song of Soroor "KHALAS" means two things: "It is over," and "Deliverance." Very appropriate to the revolutionary go-around which has plagued Egypt's march towards a functioning democratic State - toward the Indian model of the Arab world.
What is wrong? Egypt is electing a president whose powers are still written in the sky - non-defined. Why? The permanent Constitution is not yet drafted, let alone approved in a national plebiscite. So, are there any provisional constitutional bases for either of the two run-off candidates for president (Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood; and Shafik, the last Prime Minister under Mubarak) to operate? Yes: in the revised provisional Constitution promulgated by the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF).
OK!! So it looks as if the new Parliament, with 50% of the seats held by the Muslim Brotherhood, and 20% of those seats held by the Salafis -the Egyptian version of Wahhabism, together with Morsi, the most likely candidate to become president, might turn Egypt into an Islamist State. Not likely, but possibly.
But why then are we assuming that Shafik, the secular candidate might lose? Well, because several of the candidates who did not make it to the run-off are now throwing their lot with Morsi. While Shafik brandishes the fear from the emergence of an Islamist State, Morsi reminds his supporters of the possibility of a return of the old regime through Shafik.
Consequently, millions of demonstrators poured into Tahrir Square for a variety of reasons. The triggering event was opposition to what the masses considered a light sentence which a judge imposed on Mubarak and his former Interior Minister, El-Adly. The judgement called for a life sentence for both men, but absolved Mubarak's two sons, Gamal and Alaa, and several Interior Ministry top officers of corruption and other charges. Some demonstrators carried nooses to symbolize their demand for tougher sentences including capital punishment. Mubarak, El-Adly and others are accused of direct responsibility or complicity in the killing of more than 800 peaceful demonstrators in Cairo, Alexandria, Suez and other Egyptian cities.
Yet other segments of those demonstrators in Tahrir had different though supplementary agendas, supported by former presidential candidates who were unsuccessful in reaching the run-off echelon. Prominent among those run-off failures are Hamdain Sabbahi, a leftist Nasserite, and Abdel-Moneim Aboul-Fotouh, a liberal Islamist. Their call was, and continues to be, to disqualify Shafik, a run-off presidential candidate, on the basis of excluding all those, like Shafik, who served Mubarak in prominent positions.
The Islamist dominated Parliament had adopted a law on political exclusion of all those who symbolized the face of the Mubarak regime. Though the law in theory applies to Shafik, yet he was permitted by the Supreme Presidential Elections Commission, headed by Judge Sultan, to enter the presidential race. To disqualify him after millions, including the majority of Copts who are fearful of an Islamist State, had voted for him, would be tantamount to disfranchising all of those millions. Not only that. Such unheard of action would give Dr. Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood candidate, an uncontested victory which might sow the seeds of later delegitimation.
Summing up the overall picture of this stuttering revolution, tracing it from its root, it could be said that the constituent assembly of 100 should have been established to draft the permanent constitution well before the presidential elections were held. But now Egypt shall have a president by the end of this month with powers undefined except through make-shift Constitutional provisions promulgated by SCAF. SCAF is still grappling with the issue of selecting those 100 members of the Constituent Assembly, and Parliament is still considering whether it should get involved in that selection.
By July 1, SCAF is expected to retire from governing, handing over executive powers to a President with ill-defined powers. Stay tuned!!
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