CAIRO: Egyptian opposition figurehead Mohamed ElBaradei has returned to Cairo saying his absence during Egypt's violent and highly contested Parliamentary elections was intentional. “By my absence, I wanted to show that I would not take part in this farce,” he told German news agency Spiegel. ElBaradei was the first to call for a complete boycott of the elections, held November 28 and December 5. ElBaradei's call for an opposition boycott was answered only by the al-Ghad party, headed by former Presidential candidate Ayman Nour, the nascent Democratic Front Party, and the National Association for Change (NAC). Formerly head of the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency, ElBaradei appeared on the scene of Egyptian politics at the end of 2009 and was received by many Egyptians as a symbol of hope. Many still believe he has the ability to foster change in Egypt, although he has refrained from participating in demonstrations and he spent the Parliamentary elections visiting with Brazil's President Lula. Blatant violations and rigging during the elections led to a sweeping 90 percent majority for the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP). “It was right to boycott this vote, as most other Egyptians did. The official results are the product of severe manipulation,” said ElBaradei. Some disagreed with ElBaradei's call for a complete boycott. Civil rights activist Gameela Ismail, who ran as an independent in the Parliamentary elections, called on people to go to the polling places and spoil their votes if they didn't want to vote for a candidate. That way, the government could not vote for them. In statements earlier this week, ElBaradei said that he and the NAC will be working with the Muslim Brotherhood to bring change to Egypt. The Brotherhood is a conservative Islamic group which is technically banned as a party but held 88 seats as independents in the previous Parliament, about 20 percent of the total. President Hosni Mubarak's regime has traditionally used the Brotherhood as an excuse to refrain from implementing democracy. That will be harder to sell in the coming term, as the Brotherhood failed to win a single seat in the first round of elections and boycotted the second. Completely removing the Brotherhood from Parliament is seen by some as a sign of trouble within the regime. Even NDP members have criticized the overwhelming fraud of the elections, saying it looks bad for the party. They're right. “The regime is more desperate and more nervous that is has ever been,” said ElBaradei. And Egyptians are increasingly frustrated with the lack of democracy and civil liberties in their country. “More than ever, Egyptians are determined to bring the situation to an end,” said ElBaradei. “They are also more courageous than before; they are rising up.” Yet despite what ElBaradei characterized as a “highly explosive” situation, Egypt is unlikely to see a major popular movement in the near future. The numbers of Egyptians who are willing to go to the streets and demonstrate or case a vote are increasing, but they are still a small percentage of the population. On Election Day, life went on as usual outside a one-block radius of polling stations. Even so, some agree with ElBaradei, who said in a video posted on Youtube that the elections “might be the straw that broke the camel's back… The whole world is going in one direction, and we are going backward.” BM
