Ten Significances of the Parliamentary Election’s Results

Ten Significances of the Parliamentary Election’s Results

The Egyptian parliamentary vote resulted in outcomes that have been surprising for most of the observers of Egyptian affairs.

In the following, its results are outlined:

 

1-     Recently, the government that was not aware of the Muslim Brotherhood’s real momentum did not expect the group’s major wins in the election. This unawareness resulted from integrated reasons; the group was forced to keep part of its activities concealed as a result of the government coercive measures along with government’s determination on marginalization the group. Thus the success of 60% of the Brotherhood’s candidates came as a surprise for the government. According to statements of Abu el Futoh, a member of the group’s Guidance Office, if the vote was 100-percent fair, it was estimated that 130 of its fielded 150 candidates to win.

 

2-     Keeping the Muslim Brotherhood in an outlawed status poses a threat to the government. It is unreasonable that a political and social group with 20% preliminary representatives to be illegal. Moreover, the gradual increase of an illegal group may bring about a real danger to the law and order of the society and to the ruling National Democratic Party itself that it would keep him facing an unknown challenger in future competences.

 

3-     The Egyptian voter has double-scale measures. While electing the Muslim Brotherhood’s nominees, he selects a body of beliefs not a candidate, since most of the MB’s candidates are not public figures. On the other hand, voting for non-Brotherhood’s nominee, electorate means to elect certain persona. This fact can be detected in some cases where the candidate may run for polls many time appearing on the list of many parties, yet he gains regardless his party or his campaign program.

 

4-     The government mass use of formal media to distort the Muslim Brotherhood turned futile; a fact that illustrates the popular mistrust in media.

 

5-     Egyptian voters lend their ears to all speakers but act independently according to his own view point. Over numerous constituencies, NDP’s candidates gave voters money gifts to secure their yes-votes; however, voters elected the Brotherhood’s nominees. This phenomenon was overtly observable in the polls where the access was granted only to the NDP’s candidates. Astonishingly, however, the Muslim Brotherhood’s nominees in there constituencies were the victors.

  

6-     The pressures; overt and covert, exerted by national powers, by the U.S., and by the West unquestionably produced parliamentary election that was less marred by frauds than the preceding ones.

 

7-     The coming parliament will be undoubtedly more active. It is said that the ruling NDP still exercises dominance over the parliament so the opposition would be ineffective. It is wholly untenable since most the NDP’s representatives do not regularly attend the parliament sessions. Therefore, the NDP has two choices; either to force its representatives to attend punctually; an action that categorically results in political dynamics. The second option is to allow such chaos that provides a golden chance for the opposition to control the parliament; an end that is wholly rejected by the NDP.

 

 

8-     The poor showing of the official opposition parties along with the 17-unpopular decorative parties, picking up only 14 seats, clearly demonstrates their popular demise. They fail in gaining the confidence of the Egyptians in spite of having all means at their hands.  

 

9-     The major wins of the Muslim Brotherhood and the defeat of the old parties of el-Tagmwa, el-Wafd, and el-Nassery explicitly showed the real weight of each. Thus, these parties should change their attitude towards the MB to be able to work together and give effective opposition in the parliament. 

 

10-  In the course of the vote, the government applied manifold tactics of ballot-rigging; media campaigns against the MB, detentions of the Brothers and their supporters, non-NDP voters bar form casting ballots, vote buying, collective enrollment, circulated ballots, putting pressures over the monitoring judges of vote count, and influencing the judge of the Election General commission to declared unreal results such as the cases of Damanhore, Doky, Bandar el-Mansora and el-Zaqaziq constituencies.

 

The aforementioned tactics, with the exception of the last one, failed in curbing the Muslim Brotherhood’s jump. Since the president of the Election General Commission is appointed  by the Justice Minister who is elected by president Mubark; the president of the ruling NDP.

Therefore, if the judiciary would gain its fully independency, the ruling regime would have no way but to invent new frauds since it will lose its influence over monitoring judges.