Administration officials talk about democracy flowering in the Middle East but it apparently has a long way to go in Egypt, according to The Christian Science Monitor:
CAIRO – After the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s most powerful opposition group, tripled its presence in parliament over the first five rounds of Egypt’s six-round election, the government appeared to decide it would not take any chances on the last day of voting Wednesday.
The dramatic footage – of riot police firing rubber bullets and tear gas, and beating voters, as civilians threw rocks in response – reminded many Egyptians of clashes in the West Bank.
Wednesday’s violence appeared to be a message that the government’s promises of political reform stop well short of allowing the ruling National Democratic Party’s (NDP) grip on parliament to be weakened. But that stance could complicate the US-Egyptian relationship in the coming months.
“In the context of the past two years, particularly, the promises the NDP put forward about opening up, this has been a disastrous election,” says Gasser Abdel-Razek, who coordinated poll monitoring for the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights. “The level of violence was about the same as the 2000 election, but it’s not a fair comparison given the promises [President Hosni] Mubarak made, the expectations that were raised.”
The toll? As of this writing eight dead on Wednesday, which means 10 died this election year — the same number as during 2000’s elections. Wounded: hundreds. Arrested: more than 1,000. Damaged: Egypt’s credibility. Complicated: U.S. statements about Egypt, which didn’t foresee all of the above:
When US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Egypt earlier this year, she praised President Mubarak’s commitment to democracy.
But the violence and other indications of fraud at the polls prompted the United States to express concern and dismay. On Wednesday, her spokesman Adam Ereli said recent events here “raise serious concerns about the path of political reform in Egypt.”
Bravo to Rice. To look the other way and pretend that what has been unfolding in Egypt is the flowering of the seeds of cultivated democracy would be a huge mistake. In reality, The Powers That Be in Egypt are allowing democracy — but preventing anything that might make them lose the election. Makes sense (to them).