Doaa El-Bey and Rasha Saad conduct assessments on Egypt's parliamentary elections and the WikiLeaks embarrassment Newspapers differed in describing the parliamentary elections held on Sunday. Al-Akhbar headlined 'People choose their MPs; calmness in most constituencies'. Al-Ahram had 'Egyptians choose their MPs amid strong competition and national sponsorship', Al-Shorouk banner read, 'Parliament without opposition', Al-Masry Al-Yom wrote, 'Egypt votes, at least three killed in election-related clashes and elections cancelled in a number of constituencies'. Nahdet Masr screamed 'Election of blood and money' and Al-Wafd bannered 'Hooliganism won and respect for the state falls'. In 'Democracy without boundaries', Eissa Morshed wrote that the parliamentary elections heralded a new start to an important phase in which people insisted on choosing their MPs. The elections showed that democracy is not a slogan anymore but a strategic option for all people. And the report of the Higher Election Commission, Morshed added in the official daily Al-Akhbar, came to prove that impartiality was the rule that governed dealings with the representatives of all parties. In the elections, Morshed added, the people participated in meticulously choosing their MPs. But more importantly, the MPs should take an active part in issuing the political decisions and laws that achieve the desired national targets. These targets include social justice, combating poverty and corruption, increasing workers' income and raising the standard of living. The editorial of the official daily Al-Ahram said the elections will show where Egypt stood. The more it adhered to international standards like transparency and the absence of fraud, violence, tribalism and buying votes, the more the Egyptian experience will be on the right track. The edit pointed to some positive indications, namely a re-run in nearly half the constituencies, the wider participation of women and Christians, the revival of legal opposition parties like the Wafd and the increasing pressure on the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood to decide whether it wants to be a political party or a religious group. "The election inched Egypt towards its long-term target. However, the road is still long because fair elections themselves cannot achieve genuine democracy. But what has happened prompts us to call for more democracy. And this is the responsibility of all of us, not just the government," the edit read. Ahmed El-Sawi sent his congratulations to the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) even before the results were announced. He did not accuse them of fraud, or stopping voters from reaching the voting centres. But he wrote in the independent daily Al-Masry Al-Yom that the NDP would win and guarantee a big majority in the parliament because it was fully prepared for the elections by allowing its candidates to run in every constituency, competing with other parties in each and every seat and was present in every ballot box. In the meantime, El-Sawi added, the opposition parties were running with a small number of candidates that even if all managed to win, would not guarantee a majority in parliament for them. And that increased the NDP's chances as well. Thus, El-Sawi concluded, we are before an election experience that is incapable of providing the voter with options. Even the big and relatively influential opposition parties failed to coordinate among themselves and enter the elections on one voter list. "The NDP played a unilateral election game and got more than half the cake. The other parties are competing for the crumbs. Thus, congratulations to the NDP for its victory in a game in which nobody else played," he wrote. Commenting on election day, Mohamed El-Shabba wrote that Egypt deserved a day better than that. He wrote in the independent daily Nahdet Masr that the procedures taken by the government disclosed a series of administrative mistakes as well as absurd governmental behaviour. The government appeared before the world, he added, as if it were sipping a sour drink on a difficult day. It tried hard to end the day without any scandals. "A foreign broadcasting station scolded a national newspaper for describing the day as historic. It added that Egyptian history would record another day of violations and rigging of the Egyptian will," El-Shabba wrote. El-Shabba said the government managed to show some positive points on the day, namely the absence of security interference in the process, that voting centres were not in police stations and the objective role that the media tried to play with the opposition parties. "Still, the government wanted the election day to look like a wedding day of democracy. However, the wedding looked like the parties held in Upper Egypt which sometimes end by a stray bullet that kill the bridegroom. But the bullet came from the group which was still living in the age of the one-political party." Moataz Billah Abdel-Fattah wondered what our children will write about us. He wrote in the independent daily Al-Shorouk that they would write that the 1980s, 1990s and the beginning of the 21st century witnessed severe political stagnation linked to the long period during which the same party and the same person ruled. They would write that Egypt turned from a public sector economy to an economy totally dependent on the private sector. But that transformation was accompanied by a relapse in the objectives of the 1952 revolution which called for an end to capitalism. They would record, he continued, that Egypt witnessed superficial progress and an institutional backwardness. That is, progress in cars, mobiles, and satellite dishes. However, it did not contribute to producing any of these things. "Our sons would write that our ancestors dreamt of a state of institutions which turned into a state of security institutions in which all problems related to student unions, syndicates, elections and Copts were resolved in the Ministry of Interior. "They would note down that the capabilities and ambitions of the vast majority of Egyptians would not be able to conquer a lame regime that was not capable of benefiting from their energy except by leaving their country."
