They did not get death, but the sentencing of Hosni Mubarak and former interior minister Habib El-Adli to life in prison for failing to stop the killing of protesters during the uprising that ousted them was to have offered the majority of Egyptians a measure of justice and closure. Instead, the acquittal of El-Adli's six top police commanders of the same charge has set off street protests in Tahrir and elsewhere. The Mubarak trial also broke open a dam of frustrations as the country hurtles towards the end of a transition which might leave too many loose ends. The judge criticised the prosecution's case, saying it lacked evidence. The prosecution had complained it did not receive any help from the Interior Ministry and that prosecutors were routinely obstructed. To provide evidence, the police would have had to implicate themselves, a dichotomy they naturally rejected outright. Apparently, the old system remains in place and the clearest example of that is a key regime figure -- Mubarak's longtime friend and last prime minister Ahmed Shafik -- is one of two candidates going to the presidential run-off set for 16-17 June. A win by Shafik would enrage those who ask what the purpose of the entire revolution was if not to replace such officials whose names are tainted by their connection to a regime sullied with rampant corruption. In the other corner stands Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, a suspicious group perceived by many Egyptians to be power hungry after it won the majority in both houses of parliament and which stands to have a big say in drawing up the constitution. Millions of Egyptians find themselves in a corner of their own -- they are loathe to vote for either Shafik or Mursi, the two most polarising figures in Egypt today. Some hope such a fateful decision will not have to be made if the ratification of a political disenfranchisement law, passed by parliament and which bans Mubarak regime figures from assuming government positions, is passed. A court ruling is expected just days before the election. Such a ruling, however, might lead to the cancellation of the elections all together. Meantime, critics of Mursi have urged him to make clear, written power-sharing guarantees to secure broader support. But it is unlikely Mursi will commit himself to any written pledge. Proposals have been made for an interim presidential council to manage the nation's affairs and as a means of pre-empting a return of the Mubarak regime and achieving a degree of national unity. The Muslim Brotherhood, however, has rejected the idea. An unelected presidential body could be unconstitutional and certainly difficult to implement with a little over a week left before the elections. Just as important, an interim presidential council could have the elections cancelled -- just as the Brotherhood's man stands a heartbeat away from the presidency. The next president might not even know what his full powers are for they are yet to be defined by a new constitution. Egypt's ruling military council set a 48-hour deadline, ending today, for political parties to finalise the formation of a 100-member panel to write the constitution, or it will draw up its own supplementary constitutional declaration to lay the blueprints for the panel. The process has been deadlocked since the Islamist-dominated parliament tried to stack the body with its own people, leading to a walkout by secular and liberal members and the cancellation of the entire assembly. The dispute mirrors the severe splits in Egypt, attested by successive demonstrations in many cities ever since the Mubarak trial ended Saturday. The protests are reminiscent of those days of solidarity which removed Mubarak. But the atmosphere today is not one of national unity and one goal but of bitter divisions and nasty rivalries.
