Egypt Independent
Sat, 19/05/2012
Jano Charbel
Out of some 50 million eligible
voters, tens of millions are expected to partake in Egypt’s upcoming
presidential elections. An untold number of others are undecided, will
not participate, or are actively boycotting the elections.
One of the first groups to announce its
boycott of the presidential elections is the (center-leftist) National
Front for Justice and Democracy.
According to one of its chief members,
Mohamed Waked, “we are boycotting because there are no clear indicators
of what these elections will lead to. Especially given that the new
constitution has not yet been drafted, and nobody knows what the new
president’s powers and authorities will entail.”
On this basis, presidential hopefuls
cannot promise to stick to their electoral programs because their
jurisdiction has not yet been determined, according to Waked.
Indeed, pressing questions are still
looming, such as whether the power-sharing scheme between the executive
and the legislative branches of the state will remain a presidential
system or change to a mixed presidential-parliamentary system. Moreover,
the role of the interim rulers, the Supreme Council of the Armed
Forces, in the state following the elections has not yet publicly been
determined.
According to Waked “the political
system in Egypt will be tailored according to whoever wins. The nature
of the state and the executive will be determined according to the
victor.”
Waked pondered whether or not the SCAF
will retain the right to dissolve parliament, or if the next president
will be empowered to do so. Will the president have authority over the
military institution and judiciary — or is this out of bounds? “The outlook is gray and murky. It is still unclear which authorities will have which powers.”
Waked said that there are around six or
seven revolutionary groupings who have joined in the boycott called by
the National Front for Justice and Democracy. Among these small groups
is Ha’enna (Our Right - previously a campaign front for reform leader
Mohamed ElBaradei, who was then also running in the elections) along
with the Second Egyptian Revolution Coalition.
On Wednesday, the Mosereen Cultural
Cooperative hosted a round-table discussion entitled "Presidential
Elections… Boycott or Participation?" Dozens of participants were in
attendance, the vast majority of whom were under 35 years of age and
generally supported boycotting. Only around three participants — two of them over 35 — expressed their support for participation.
Nearly all boycotters claimed that the
vote will boil down, in the second round of elections, to a vote between
remnants/representatives of ousted leader Hosni Mubarak’s regime and
power-hungry Islamists.
According to the leftist youth
activist, Tarek Shalaby, “Mubarak’s verdict [in a trial in which he is
charged with corruption and killing protesters, due to be issued on 2
June] will be issued and sandwiched between the first and second rounds
of elections. This is not a coincidence; it is intended to distract the
populace from this court trial.”
Another socialist activist, Rasha Azab
argued “parliamentary elections were held in November when the police
and armed forces where killing protesters on Mohamed Mahmoud Street.
These elections are intended to distract us from the real revolution.”
Azzab mocked Mubarak’s successor,
claiming that he would be a powerless puppet in the hands of his
political overlords. “The next president will be a shoe/boot on the
SCAF’s foot, a slipper on the Islamists feet, and a pair of wooden clogs
on the feet of Israel and the United States.”
Pierre Sioufi, a middle-aged activist,
began the discussion by encouraging people to take to the streets during
the election days, rather than boycotting by staying at home. Sioufi
and others called for “an active and vocal boycott, as opposed to a
passive boycott.”
Others called for a campaign of posters and/or street art to raise awareness about the reasons behind the boycott.
But an activist participating in the
discussion reckoned that staying at home is a better option for
practical reasons. “We should stay at home during election days, because
our numbers will be dwarfed in comparison to those voting. The
anti-boycott camp will point to us and argue that we are a tiny
misguided minority.”
This activist went on to recommend “we should stay at home, and claim all those who did the same as being in our camp.”
Another youth participant recommended
nullifying ballots, “by crossing off all the names, or by writing the
name of the martyr Khaled Saeed on the ballots.” However, another
activist responded by saying “nullifying your ballot still counts as
participating in the elections — albeit that your voice is discarded.”
Yet activist Wael Khalil argued against the boycott, claiming that “every revolution has a leadership — for
example the French revolution and Russian revolution. Otherwise the
revolution will be misled and will not have a clear trajectory.”
An elderly woman participant denounced
the calls for boycott on the basis that it doesn’t have a critical
following. “You are wasting your time and effort with your calls for a
boycott. You represent only 1 percent or less of the population; the
vast majority of whom want to rebuild a new democratic Egyptian state.”
Khalil commented, “if we elect a
democratic president then we can guarantee that all future elections
will be free, fair and representative.”
But Azzab said she expects the upcoming
vote to be rigged: “there will be no difference between the
presidential elections of 2005 and the presidential elections of 2012.”
But so far the calls for a boycott have
not been competing strongly with the campaigning of presidential
hopefuls hoping to lure voters to cast ballots in their favor.
Calls for elections' boycott have also
been made ahead of the parliamentary elections which kicked off in
November of last year. Activists defending the boycott also thought the
elections were a distraction from the revolutionary path.
*Photo courtesy of AFP
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