Day By Day

Monday, September 12, 2005

What if You Held an Election and Nobody Came? They did in Egypt

These are not good days for the democracy movement. The high hopes of just a few months ago, when it seemed that democratic revolution was sweeping the globe, have been dashed on a number of fronts. Earlier I noted the problems emerging in Ukraine. In Egypt, too, things seem to be stalled.

Under pressure from the US, Hosni Mubarek for the first time in Egypt's history, allowed a contested election to be held. But, many opposition leaders, saying that the outcome would be rigged, urged their followers to boycott the elections. The result was discouraging. Fewer than one fifth of the electorate participated in the election which Mubarek won with nearly 90% of the votes cast. For the most part the election seems to have been run honestly, at least by regional standards, although there was considerable confusion at several polling places, and there is no reason to dispute the vote. And there is some hope in the fact that secular parties outpolled religious ones. But, the widespread voter apathy points to a fundamental problem that may prove to be insuperable. The average Egyptian citizen has displayed no faith in the democratic process and demonstrates no particular interest in participating in it. Until democratic aspirations emerge on a broad popular front, there is little hope for meaningful democratic reform in Egypt, or for that matter in much of the Arab world.

Democratic habits have to be learned, and learned through practice. There have been municipal elections successfully held in some places in Egypt, and in some of these women have been allowed to participate. These are hopeful signs for the future. But the latest election results show that the practices have not been generalized through the population and, given the disinterest of the government in promoting democratic reform, are not likely to develop for some time.

Read about it here.

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