Prensa Obrera came out this Thursday morning (http://po.org.ar/po1224/prensa-obrera-1224/) and with it, an excellent article on the recent elections in Egypt, which I translated into English right away (see below for links to original Spanish version):
Egypt: Without Pharaohs or assemblies Workers Party | May 31, 2012 The results of the first presidential elections after the fall of Hosni Mubarak again highlight the crisis in the so-called transition. Voter turnout was less than 50 percent of registered voters and no candidate won more than 25 percent. This reflects a huge dispersion, which contrasts sharply with an overwhelming victory of Islam in the parliamentary elections: the most voted candidate barely received 13 percent of those registered to vote, so a popular mandate is completely lacking. The candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) made the runoff when the polls showed him out of the race, just above the left-wing Nasserist candidate (secular nationalist). The candidate of the military junta, Ahmed Shafiq, a former prime minister of Mubarak, was supported by the state apparatus. A former chancellor of Mubarak and former secretary of the Arab League, Love Musa, was left out despite strong support for his campaign by the 'international community'. Shafiq has faced numerous charges of corruption, but is above all a shock trooper for the right, responsible for the attack that left eleven dead and hundreds injured in Tahir Square in the midst of the revolution. According to the correspondent of Le Monde (27/5), he "embodies itself to counter-reaction." In the second round he could become the president of Egypt, equivalent to a call to civil war. A crisis-ridden ballotage The definition of the presidential election will be between a former mubarakist, supported by the military establishment and Zionism, and the candidate of the MB (Muslim Brotherhood). A victory of the former would unleash a wave of violence from the state, which keeps the intelligence and parapolice services intact. The fact that parliament has not yet been able to write a constitution operates in favor of a vacuum of power that the counterrevolution could fill by dint of pure machete, especially because according to the law prohibiting the eligibility of former officials, his candidacy is completely irregular. A victory for the Muslim Brotherhood would set off a huge fight over assets, as, although it may sound paradoxical, Islam strongly advocates privatization of property 90 percent of which are in the hands of the armed forces. The 'medievalism' attributed to the Islamists is simple ignorance, since it actually represents a huge conglomerate of capitalist interests with a big impact inside and outside the stock market. Moreover, the organization expressed its commitment to defend U.S. investments in the country. This situation is part of the paralysis in which the Constituent Assembly finds itself, blocked by the military and the Liberals to prevent the Islamists from imposing their majority. The MB poses a parliamentary system that grants the possibility of forming a government, while the rest of the forces are seeking a presidential or semi-presidential system. The military, meanwhile, face a dilemma that is no less severe. To mitigate the repeated mass demonstrations calling for their departure from the government, they have pledged to hand over power by June 30. However, in these conditions there may not be a government to which they can hand power over. Moreover, further delaying the transfer of power could precipitate an overthrow at the hands of popular mobilization. The transition is completely bogged down. The left and the elections The news was undoubtedly the nomination of the 'pro-Nasser' Hadmin Sabahi, which garnered a lot of votes from activists of the revolution. Sabahi reached 20 percent of the vote and almost entered the second round. Sabahi carries a mortgage of having come to terms with Islamic forces in the preceding elections. To the left of Sabahi, Khaled Ali, a militant revolutionary with a grassroots militant background, was slighted by the media, garnering only 2 percent of the vote. Le Monde (25/5) attributes this in part to the factionalism reining over the revolutionary left in Egypt, part of which called for a vote for Sabahi, another for an independent Islamic (Abdel Moneim Aboul Foutouh) while others called to abstain. Some are now ready to vote for the candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood against Mubarakism, which legitimizes Shafik contested candidacy. The Socialist Worker oriented group coined the slogan: "Sometimes with the Islamists, never with the state." A triumph of Shafiq, under present conditions, would unleash a revolutionary crisis and the threat of a civil war; if the Islamists win, that perspective would take some months. Also, Egypt is undergoing a major economic crisis with no solution in sight. Diego Mendoza Original version in Spanish: http://po.org.ar/blog/2012/05/31/egipto-sin-faraones-ni-asambleas/ ------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[email protected]?subject=laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! 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