It is less than 72 hours before polling stations in Egypt open their doors, so Egyptians can choose the 2015 parliament, the last step to fulfill the Road Map of July 2013. At this point, electoral silence is in effect, and I will in no way actively promote or demote a candidate. I will merely focus on western media’s presumptuous presentation of the incoming Egyptian parliament to the world.
This parliament is truly vital for Egypt’s welfare, but that is beside the point as far as western media are concerned. Western media opt to focus on negativity, exaggeration, and misguidance.
CNN’s latest headline on Egypt reads, “Burnt out and apathetic—Egypt prepares to vote again.” And Sarah Sirgany explains that neither Egyptians nor the candidates themselves are interested in this round of parliamentary elections. She is correct when she says that apathy dominates the electoral scene today, but she doesn’t focus on how apathy will affect the incoming parliament. Why would she care to present the consequences of a ill-chosen parliament?
She also says, “More than 5,000 candidates are running in the elections this year, but that's half the number of the 2011 race.” This isn’t necessarily a bad thing—an Egyptian proverb says, “You have numbers in key lime العدد في الليمون,” which translates to it’s not in how many run; it is in the quality of runners.
The Financial Times headline reads “Old guard eye comeback in Egypt’s polls,” predicting the advent of Mubarak-era members in the new parliament. After the 2011 overthrow of Mubarak, Egyptians may have thought they had seen the last of a party often reviled as a corrupt patronage machine, but now many former NDP members appear poised to return to public life in the new parliament, or so she says.
The author also says that more than 2,000 former members of the former party are running in the poll. This is a presumptuous figure on the author’s part. I don’t deny that the National Democratic Party, NDP, come what may, will be present in the new parliament in some form, but so will the Muslim Brotherhood even if incognito. I wonder why she doesn’t find any fault with the Muslim Brotherhood members who will be present. Also, assuming that NDP members will command the newly elected parliament is erroneous and intentionally misleading. Bear in mind that in 2010, the NDP secured over 80 percent of parliament seats. Bear in mind that Ahmed Ezz, the steel tycoon, and a steering NDP figure, was disqualified from running in the upcoming parliament elections.
Of the seven lists that form the various coalitions for the parliament, only one looks as though it may include members of the National Democratic Party: Ahmed Shafik’s Egyptian Front Coalition. This while two Islamist lists exist: the Independent National Reawakening bloc and Al Nour List.
In an interview in Ahram Online, Sobhy Asilh, expert for Political and Strategic Studies Al-Ahram Center, expects the NDP to be in Egypt’s 2015 parliament but affirms that no single particular political party will dominate. My take: It is up to Egyptians to do their homework and choose wisely; only then will they be able to restrict the number of NDP followers, Muslim Brotherhood members, or Islamists, if they so wish, in this parliament.
The worst culprit is none other than Associated Press via the NY Times. Hamza Hendawi, the author, begins by saying that there will be no effective opposition turning the parliament into a rubber stamp one, leaving the former military chief free to power ahead with a high-octane, one-man campaign to revive the economy and influence the region while curbing opposition at home. This is a perplexing sentence indeed: it is as though the writer is against reviving the Egyptian economy and influencing the region.
Now what’s ironic about that? Yes, the new parliament will adopt the new constitution, a rather liberal constitution. Yes, the constitution limits the president’s freedom and may oblige the parliament to impeach the president, and yet the article finds irony in all this. Needless to say, the article is disturbingly distorting facts while intentionally siding against Egypt’s regime.
Hendawi also questions why figures such El Baradei and former presidential candidate, Hamdeen Sabbahi, both public figures that fuelled the Jan25th Revolution, are not running for parliament. What he doesn’t include is that both figures chose not to run because neither would have succeeded in capturing a seat in parliament. El Baradei chose to exit the Egyptian political scene leaving a very sour taste in the mouths of those who believed in him, and Sabbahi lost miserably in the presidential election. Twisting truth? Yes.
He also cites two candidates, whom he considers below standards: Abdel Rahim Ali, who has used his TV show to air recordings of romantic or personal telephone conversations by rights activists with the intention of casting them as morally loose or agents paid by foreign powers, and Ahmed Moussa, a TV anchorman and an avid supporter of President Sisi, though the newspaper ran a correction later explaining that Ahmed Moussa is not running.
I will not defend either Abdel Rahim Ali or Ahmed Moussa though both have a right to defend themselves, but what the author chooses to do is exclude all candidates worth mentioning: Sameh Seif El-Yazal: a former intelligence officer, security expert and chairman of the Gomhouria Centre for Political and Strategic Studies (GCPSS), whom Egyptians think very highly of; Tahany El-Gebali, former Vice President of the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt, and an avid spokesperson against ousted President Morsi, and again, someone Egyptians think very highly of; former presidential candidate Hossam Khairalla; former minister and football icon Taher Abou Zeid, and, though I haven’t seen her name in the latest lists, Egyptian poet and journalist Fatma Naoot. Maybe Hendawi, to come across as objective, could’ve included one or another of the above renowned figures.
The article also confirms the running of “dozens” of NDP loyalists. Even the ultra-conservative Islamist al-Nour party is running, mostly in the hope it will give the electoral process the appearance of inclusion and partially as a reward for its support for the ouster of Morsi and his now-banned Muslim Brotherhood. Tsk, tsk, nothing pleases you, Associated Press. Even the running of Al Nour Party, which the majority of Egyptians finds risky is made to look as though it is there for show. I beg to differ.
Nothing, absolutely nothing happening in Egypt is looked upon with a glimmer of hope. Clearly western media are intentionally and deliberately out to make Egypt look bad. This I am sure of, but the reason is truly daunting.
Am I surprised? No, I’ve stopped being surprised by western media.
Egyptians, do not heed western media. Go about your business of electing the most important parliament in Egyptian modern history.
Me too. I'm sick and tired of western media tarnishing any thing Egyptian. No consideration whatsoever for what the country has been through and recovering from. I wish I can ignore every negative comment they make but, sometimes difficult.
Tahya Masr.
Posted by: George | 10/16/2015 at 08:18 PM
I tell myself the same everyday, but sometimes the attitude gets to me. Hence, this provoked piece.
Thank you!
Posted by: azza radwan sedky | 10/16/2015 at 08:20 PM