Egypt held run-off parliamentary elections on Dec. 4, following the first round on Nov. 28. Opposition parties such as the Muslim Brotherhood, Wafd and the Nasserite Party denounced the elections as fraudulent, unfair and rigged. The Brotherhood and Wafd boycotted the run-off elections.
 Protesters clash with police in downtown Cairo. |
Egypt has never held real elections under the so-called President Mubarak, a U.S. puppet. Showcase elections are held only to give the appearance of legitimacy to Mubarak’s regime to the outside world. Turnout was extremely low, reflecting the Egyptian people’s lack of faith in the elections. As little as only 10 percent of 41 million eligible Egyptians voted.
So rigged were the elections that of the 221 contested seats, only 12 were won by opposition parties, the remaining 209 seats all going to Mubarak’s National Democratic Party. The announced results are in stark contrast to the sentiments of the majority of Egyptians, among whom Mubarak is far from popular. The Egyptian government rejected international election monitors. In addition, it banned mass texting and shut down several television stations to avoid the possibility of embarrassing revelations about the fake elections.
On the day of the elections, violence was witnessed and experienced by supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood. In the city of Mena, there were reports of Brotherhood supporters being attacked by unidentified assailants. Riot police prevented more than 1,000 people from observing the ballot counting process in the textile working class town of Mahalla.
The Muslim Brotherhood, which had won a fifth of the parliamentary seats in the 2005 elections, lost all its seats. The Brotherhood runs its candidates as independents to circumvent a ban on religious parties. It is the largest opposition force against the Mubarak regime.
Repression by the Egyptian government is part of its strategy to crush any independent movement and to keep the Mubarak regime in power. A so-called “emergency law” in place since 1981 bans political parties and allows Egyptian security forces to harass and detain activists, reporters and journalists.
Increased hardships for the people have resulted in increased use of repression by the dictatorship. Inflation has risen significantly in the past five years. According to Al Masry al Youm, the price of a kilogram of tomatoes has increased by 50 percent. Meat prices skyrocketed to 85 Egyptian pounds ($17) per kilo. Basic services such as electricity and water during Ramadan, the holy month for Muslims, were regularly cut.
Egypt has not always been a U.S. client state with a fake democracy. In fact, under the leadership of Gamal Abdul Nasser, Egypt was an independent country that fought imperialism for its independence, most notably over the nationalization of the Suez Canal. Nasser’s anti-imperialist leadership served as an inspiration for the Arab world.
But following Nasser’s death in 1970, Anwar Sadat took over as the leader. Sadat discontinued the path of political independence and moved sharply to the right. He established close relations with imperialist powers, particularly with the United States.
In 1978, Sadat signed the Camp David Accords, leading to a separate peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. This was a great victory for President Carter. Egypt, the most populous Arab country, was effectively separated from the rest of the Arab world in recognizing the settler state of Israel and signing a separate peace with it in complete indifference to the plight of the Palestinian people.
Since that time, Egypt has remained a compliant U.S. client state. The United States has been giving $2 billion in military aid to the regime since the late 1980s, making it the second largest recipient in the region after Israel. In 1981, following the assassination of Sadat, Hosni Mubarak took over as “president,” clinging to that position for 29 years now. It is widely believed that Mubarak, 82, is grooming his son, Gamal, to succeed him.
The regime in Egypt is one of the many Arab regimes that Washington has propped up against the will of the people. Popular resistance to this regime continues to be waged in a variety of forms, including the many strikes and protests that have shaken Egypt in recent years.
