Don't Underestimate Egypt's Liberals

الجمعة ٠٣ - مايو - ٢٠٢٤ ٠٩:٤٩ صباحاً

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اضيف الخبر في يوم السبت ١٤ - يناير - ٢٠١٢ ١٢:٠٠ صباحاً.

Don’t Underestimate Egypt’s Liberals

By Sherif Mansour, Senior Program Officer

http://blog.freedomhouse.org/weblog/2012/01/two-perspectives-on-egypts-transition.html

Many western analysts are mistakenly jumping to the conclusion that liberals are out of the game in Egypt because of the parliamentary election results, which gave Islamists the lead. They are once again falling into the self-fulfilling prophecy promoted previously by former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and now by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) that Egyptians can only chose between a stable autocracy and a theocracy.

In his Freedom at Issue blog piece, Al Stepan criticizes Egyptian liberals for trying to get around the outcome of elections and thus leaving an opening for the military to cling to power. Stepan’s argument about the weakness and lack of consensus among liberals is to a large extent true, and the SCAF has cleverly (and in many cases not so cleverly) played various political actors off against one another in a cynical attempt to maintain political control. But there is more to this picture.

The SCAF has not provided a fair environment for the elections. Since June 2011, the SCAF singled out liberals in public attacks, and liberals had to spend valuable time defending themselves. Only liberal leaders of the revolution were put on trial in military courts, defamed on TV and in public statements, and targeted for investigation because they organized demonstrations. Only liberal civil society groups were investigated for "illegal foreign funding" and had their offices stormed, although they are open about the funding they receive, and they receive significantly less money from outside of Egypt than the Islamists do.

Liberals want more than elections; they want liberal democracy. The SCAF and Islamists both aim for something short of that. The SCAF fear liberal democracy because they don't want get into trouble for their corruption and human rights violations before and after the revolution. Islamists fear liberal democracy because it will ultimately put them in contradiction with their belief in supremacy of sharia and their unsettled debate about rights of women and minorities. This parliament, incidentally, will have the lowest-ever percentage of women -- they hold less than 2 % of all seats.

Furthermore, liberals were much more concerned about the transition environment and the revolution’s success than electoral gains. They focused on the transformation needed to lead Egypt toward democracy and they struggled to reshape government institutions, which is something Islamists gave little attention to. Liberals forced the SCAF to change two cabinets, abolish Mubarak’s local councils, and bring Mubarak to justice. They brought down Mubarak’s party and kept the representation of its members to less than 5% of the new parliament. Taken together, these successes are far more impressive than any election campaign.

Most importantly, liberals forced the SCAF to schedule presidential elections earlier than the SCAF had planned, thus paving the way for a transition from military to civilian rule in June 2012. The SCAF wanted to put this transition off until 2013, which would have allowed them to retain executive power even after a new parliament was elected. Because of the efforts of Egypt’s liberals, the SCAF should be on its way out in a few months. But the liberals are staying in the game. And Islamists will have to work with them. Liberals will be well represented in parliament, with about a third of the seats and with many well-known and respected figures. Egypt may elect a liberal president as well.

Within the upcoming year, a new parliament and new president will be busy fixing the damage left by the SCAF, focusing on the economy and building institutions. Liberals have a key role to play in addressing these challenges. They can, yet again, prove Mubarak’s prophecy wrong. Liberals can ensure that the autocratic military – the SCAF –will leave power and the Islamists who won the parliamentary elections will respect the rights of Egyptians. And that is why the liberals need our support now more than ever.

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