A year after Mubarak’s ouster as president, the Egyptian people went to the polls May 23 and 24 to elect the fifth Egyptian president. Results were expected May 27.
According to Al-Ahram and Al-Jazeera, the frontrunners are Ahmed Shafiq, former prime minister during Mubarak’s last days, and Mohamed Morsy, the Muslim Brotherhood candidate. The struggle for social justice continues against the economic and political structures of Mubarak’s neo-liberal economy and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.
On April 14, the Higher Presidential Election Commission disqualified 10 out of 23 candidates, including two frontrunners from the Islamist tendencies and former Vice President Omar Suleiman. Suleiman, who was head of military intelligence, was disqualified due to a lack of signatures for his candidacy.
Khairat El-Shater, the first candidate of the MB and a wealthy businessperson, was banned due to a past conviction. The Salafist frontrunner, Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, was disqualified under the pretext that his mother held U.S. citizenship.
Liberal presidential candidate Ayman Nour, who was jailed for challenging Mubarak in 2005, was also barred for his past record of imprisonment. The commission initially disqualified the last prime minister of Mubarak, Shafiq. On April 26, the commission reinstated Shafiq as a valid candidate without giving a reason.
The disqualification of Abu Ismail led his supporters to engage in a sit-in in front of the Ministry of Defense in the Abbassiya district in downtown Cairo. Protesters called for the right of Abu- Ismail to be allowed to run in the elections and some chanted against SCAF and demanded a civilian government.
Sit-in protesting disqualification attacked
On April 29, as many as 91 Egyptians were injured when the sit-in was attacked by thugs using Molotov cocktails and bricks, and several gunshots were fired, according to eyewitnesses. The photos and videos of the attacks mobilized activists back onto the streets of Cairo with marches leaving from Tahrir Square to the Ministry of Defense. Chants repeated once again: “Down! Down! With military rule,” and “Field Marshall Tantawi is Mubarak.”
May 5 was the most intense day of clashes between protesters and the military police. The military police violently repressed the march with water cannons and so-called non-lethal ammunition. The military arrested 300 people including 14 to 17 women, who were later released. More than 373 were injured and two killed. A total of 11 people were killed over the duration of the sit-in and marches.
The military claimed it was acting in “self defense.” The military, once again, arrested revolutionary activists and front liners and set up military tribunals.
During the first round of military trials, right after the initial uprising, activists coordinated and established the organization: “No military trials for civilians,” which is a group that organizes with the families of those who got arrested and mobilizes people to march and organize against these trials. The organization held several press conferences and marches around Cairo to raise the issue of opposition against military trials.
The presidential candidates represent different sectors of Egyptian politics. Amr Moussa represents the continuation of Mubarak’s regime. Moussa was Mubarak’s foreign minister from 1991 to 2001 and later was secretary general of the Arab League from 2001-2011, widely viewed as a client for Western imperialism in Egypt and the Arab world.
Shafiq represents Mubarak’s legacy
Shafiq, who appears to be leading, represents the reincarnation of Mubarak. Shafiq served as the commander of the Egyptian Air Force from 1996 to 2002 and later became the first civil aviation minister. His ministry has stolen millions of Egyptian pounds for the construction of the Cairo International Airport. Moreover, in his last days as prime minister, he smuggled millions of dollars of Mubarak’s money into foreign bank accounts.
According to the Egyptian newspaper Seventh Day several officers from the Central Security Force have issued 900,000 voting IDs to low-ranking police to vote for Shafiq, an old tactic to defraud elections under Mubarak. Both Moussa and Shafiq are seen as agents of the United States and Israel.
The Muslim Brotherhood won more votes than any other party in the January 2012 parliamentary elections. Yet little change in policies has been seen in regards to the economy or police institutions. Morsy, MB’s candidate, campaigned under the theme of a “renaissance project,” which promised to deliver economic and security stability to the country. Many revolutionaries view the MB as an opportunist political party, since it sat down with SCAF right after Mubarak’s departure.
Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh is a moderate Islamist candidate who left the MB after the revolution. He became famous after interrupting former President Anwar Sadat in 1977 during his visit to Cairo University and accusing him of corruption. He campaigned on “basic rights for citizens,” the establishment of a minimum wage and security in his first 100 days as president.
Nasserite candidate Hamdeen Sabahi, who has been a long-time opposition figure against Sadat and Mubarak, campaigned on the re-nationalization of privatized public industry, strong social programs and a strong anti-Israeli stand. It is reported that Sabahi will file an appeal against the results of the elections for irregularities. Sabahi’s Arab nationalism appeals to a lot of Egyptians as an alternative to the current system and the other candidates.
Since SCAF took power on Feb 11, 2011, Field Marshall Tantawi promised that the transitional period would take six months and elections would happen in July 2011. SCAF continued to play the role of the Mubarak dictatorship. The military has been responsible for the deaths of thousands of Egyptians over the so-called transitional period.
Mubarak’s trial is is seen as a sham by most of the population. Tantawi had been Mubarak’s general of the Presidential Republic Guards in the 1980s. In 1991, Tantawi became minister of defense and minister of military production. Egypt’s military hardware and economic foreign aid comes from the United States. It receives more than $2 billion a year in military and economic assistance, which was part of the Camp David Peace Treaty of 1979. Since the accords, Egypt became a client government for U.S. imperialism in the region and has secured Israeli and U.S. interests. Egyptians view Tantawi and Suleiman as agents of U.S. imperialism and oppression.
The steadfast Egyptian revolutionaries, youth, and the working class have consistently organized against SCAF and its brutal security apparatus under the banner of social and economic rights such as a minimum wage, reparations for the martyrs and the right to organize, march and strike.
For those at the forefront of the struggle, elections are not the solution. Mobilization of the different sectors in society onto the streets is the only way forward against the military dictatorship and Mubarak’s loyalists.
