CAIRO: The sweeping victory of the Republican party in the US midterm elections could have a negative impact on American foreign policy vis-à-vis Egypt and the region as a whole, said former Washington bureau chief of Al-Ahram, Atef Al-Ghamri. The Republicans overturned the Democrat majority in the House of Representatives earlier this week, gaining over 60 seats — they needed 40 to reclaim the House. They also decreased the Democrat majority in the Senate by six seats, but did not gain a majority there with the Democrats still holding onto over half the 100 seats in the Upper House. Al-Ghamri told Daily News Egypt, “The fear is that the Republicans have been announcing since the results came…[that] they will seek to reverse a lot of the decisions made by (US President Barack) Obama. Obama came into office amidst a groundswell of academic opinion that American foreign policy needed to change. “This direction saw that a solution for the Palestinian peace issue was needed and so was an overall change in US policy in the Middle East. It was determined that American interests were better served by changing its foreign policy and seeking partners abroad,” he continued. “A lot of Republicans disagree with this direction, especially regarding the Middle East,” Al-Ghamri added, “And any weakness or change in this policy will have a detrimental effect on US relations with Egypt and other countries in the region.” However, in good news for the Egyptian regime, the loss of Democrat Russell Feingold was a blow for a bill he sponsored last July that called for supporting democracy and civil liberties in Egypt. Feingold had sponsored the bill, alongside Senator John McCain, which stated: “Authorities in Egypt continue to harass, intimidate, arbitrarily detain and engage in violence against peaceful demonstrators, journalists, human rights activists and bloggers.” The bill urged Obama to “make respect for basic human rights and democratic freedoms a priority in the ongoing relationship and dialogue between the governments of the United States and Egypt.” Bills of this sort are usually proposed to the foreign relations committee, but never make it to the voting phase in the House. Last year a similar bill calling for more democratization in Egypt did not make it out of the foreign relations committee. The proposed bill was met with huge criticism by the regime and pro-government backers who were infuriated by what was deemed an intervention in Egypt's internal affairs. However, Al-Ghamri believed that Feingold's loss in the midterms would not affect general US policy that calls for democratization around the globe. “The perception of democracy in Congress is that the lack of it in countries abroad is harmful for US interests, this is a shared view and Feingold's loss will not affect that,” he said.
