Egypt Analysis: Assessing the Elections (El Amrani)

An Activist Hands Out Leaflets to VotersWhat we saw today — so far at least — is that even amidst public uncertainty about the future, split public opinion on Tahrir and SCAF, and organizational chaos, the Egyptian people are eager to participate in the democratic process that may have real meaning for the first time in their lives. They are sharing in the fruits of the revolution, with pragmatism and hope, and testing whether the change is real. I don't see the high turnout (or what we think is a high turnout as we await official data) as a sign of support for SCAF. It's a sign of support for the democratic process and hope for its improvement.

That is a testimony of the Egyptian people's seriousness. But it does not change the fact that these elections were prepared with staggering, perhaps even malicious, incompetence and on that basis alone should not have been held, and that the transition blueprint in general is a bad one.

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Egypt and the Elections: The "Strategic Blunder" of President Mubarak's Party (Hamid)

There is no transition whose beginning is not the consequences --- direct or indirect --- of important divisions within the authoritarian regime itself. Those divisions, in Egypt, are only likely to grow.

For the National Democratic to make a strategic blunder at such a crucial moment in Egypt's history suggests a regime that is nervous, unsure of itself and increasingly incoherent.

The Parliamentary elections were the first such mistake. Whether there will be more ---- and whether the opposition manages to capitalise --- will determine the course Egypt takes in the coming, critical months.

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