Update on Egypt

By Zachary Weiz

One would experience a culture shock if they were to go to Egypt. For Egyptians, though, day-to-day life is still fairly normal; the only difference, as my correspondent from Egypt said, is that 'the revolution is on everyone's mind'.

To a large extent, the country is in chaos. And yet, crime levels are lower than those of any other Western country. The Egyptian public is very proud that their morals and ethics alone are holding the country together. It is quite remarkable considering there's no government or police around.

In September, the mood was jubilant. By December, the people were getting angry due to the lack of progress on the political front. Last weekend, the parliamentary elections finally took place. In the complex new Egyptian political structure, there will also be a presidential election, which is due before the end of June. In the parliamentary elections, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), which is under the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, won between a third and a half of the seats. When combined with the fundamentalist Salifist Party, which 'strictly adheres to Shari'ah law,' they won around two thirds of the seats. The Salifists performed surprisingly well, at the expense of the liberal democratic parties championed by the West.

Thus, it looks as if the FJP will be the most influential body. However, no one is really sure what their aim is. The feeling on the street is that initially they'll be quite liberal, so as to not alienate the public. This will enable them to consolidate their power, and from there they'll be able to become more authoritarian. This is why more educated, liberal Egyptians are fearful for the future.

As for the presidential election, one of the leading candidates, Mohamed ElBaradei, dropped out of the running. Backed by the West, he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005, having been involved in inspecting nuclear weapons for the United Nations. The absence of ElBaradei in the presidential race means there's no clear favourite for the presidency.

As for Mubarak, he remains under house arrest. Growing old, and with his health deteriorating, almost everyone in Egypt wants him to get the death penalty. This leaves the army with a dilemma; having served under Mubarak for around 40 years, they don't want to simply kill him off. At the same time, they don't want to upset the public by letting him go unpunished. As a result, they have delayed his trial. It seems as if they are hoping he dies soon from natural causes.