CAIRO: With the impending Shura, parliamentary and presidential elections, much controversy has emerged regarding Egypt's political system. The country boasts of a constitution, a head of state, a prime minister, a parliament, judicial institutions, political parties, and civil society organizations; however in all reality it can not be considered part of an overall system. Egypt lacks effective utilizing of these institutions since only one man ‘the president' has the authority to discharge members of parliament, ministers, and even Prime minister. Only one political institution appears to govern the country sidelining any opposition, which ventures to surface and gain popularity such as the Muslim Brotherhood. Elections, which are held to theoretically form a government are a farce since they are governed with restrictions and regulations rendering participation nearly impossible. Other parties lack the sufficient candidates necessary to run in the elections in the first place. Thus only one party namely the NDP repeatedly win. Out of the 444 seats in parliament, the majority belong to members from the ruling party. The Muslim Brotherhood was able to acquire 88 seats in the 2005 parliamentary elections. However, campaigning conditions, which were almost impossible due to the oppression and threatening of candidates in attempts to intimidate opposition. Independents were able to secure 34 seats. It remains to be seen how the regime will handle the upcoming elections. If the current arrests are any indication, then the opposition surely has their work cut out for them where it appears that the light at the end of the tunnel isn't as bright as wished. Ikwhanweb editorial
