Tamarod campaign's role in managing the transitional period following the ouster of Mohamed Morsi as president is growing. Over the last week campaign leaders have met with Interim President Adli Mansour and his aides. “People trusted us and answered our call for mass demonstration on 30 June. Our role is to ensure that all their demands for a better life are met,” says Mahmoud Badr, co-founder of Tamarod campaign. The campaign's goal in the transition period, says Badr, is to act as the representative of youth movements within the interim administration and ensure their voice is heard in the making of every major decision. At the same time Badr urges the necessity of building grassroots support that can be mobilised, when needed, to protect the goals of the 30 June Revolution. Tamarod, which backed Mohamed Al-Baradei as a prime minister, appeared to be outmanoeuvred this week by the Salafist Nour Party, which vetoed Al-Baradei's appointment. The campaign has also made clear it had no part in drafting the latest constitutional decree. “It was not presented to us or Dr Al-Baradei,” Badr wrote on his Facebook page. “We were surprised by it, just like everyone else.” Subsequently, says Badr, the presidency called a meeting to discuss the issue, and now Al-Baradei and legal expert Mona Zul-Fukar are drafting amendments to the decree that will be presented to the presidency. “We are keen to ensure the success of the transitional phase,” he says. “We want to see the formation of a new government that will work quickly to alleviate the suffering of ordinary Egyptians.” Under the temporary charter the president holds legislative authority alongside the cabinet which has a mandatory consultative role. Following Monday's clashes in front of the Republican Guard headquarters that left 51 Morsi supporters dead and hundreds injured, Tamarod demanded an independent inquiry. “Tamarod denounces violence and the killing of any Egyptians regardless of political affiliation. We are calling for a special independent committee to investigate this incident,” said Tamarod spokesperson Hassan Shahine. The group held mass prayers in Tahrir Square on Monday to mourn those killed. Analysts believe the interim administration must accommodate youth movements and their demands if it is to avoid the mistakes made by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces following the fall of Hosni Mubarak in 2011. “The success of Tamarod and earlier youth movements graphically shows that changes in the Egyptian political arena are no longer brought about by traditional elites but by new political forces operating outside partisan boundaries,” says Mohamed Al-Sayed Abdel-Gawad, a political analyst at Al-Masry Al-Youm Studies and Information Centre. For policy-makers to ignore this fact, jeopardises consensus. “The rise of movements like Tamarod exposes the failure of Egypt's political parties to engage with the public or win their confidence,” says Abdel-Gawad.
