CAIRO - Egypt's civil society and political activists are in low spirits a few days before a crucial parliamentary vote is held on Sunday, and a few hours before the curtain fell down on campaigning. The activists say if the measures taken by the Government over the last few days mean anything for the vote, they mean that the Government does not plan to keep its pledges for holding fair and honest elections. “There cannot be normal elections under this enormous state of friction between the Government and other political powers,” said Hassan Nafaa, a prominent political analyst, university professor, and columnist. “The Egyptian regime has totally failed in pushing this country's political system to the required pluralism,” he told The Gazette in an interview. Nafaa and other nationally minded observers have seen campaigning for the elections going awry over the past few days. Violent clashes erupted between Government-commissioned security men and the supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood in various governorates over the last few days, filling many with fear over the safety of both the candidates and the electorate in the elections. Some Brotherhood leaders have even called on their supporters to get ready to die to “defend the Brotherhood's rights” to the ballot boxes. Some TV anchors, including Wael el- Ebrashi of Dream TV, were talking on Monday about alleged restrictions imposed by the Information Ministry on the ability of private satellite TV channels as far as the elections are concerned. “TV hosts are faced with two choices: to speak and go to jail or take a few days off the screen until the elections come to an end,” he said in an interview with Mona el-Shazly of the freewheeling talk show 10:00pm on the privately owned Dream TV. This and other personal sightings have also made ordinary voters like Yasser Abdullah, a taxi driver from Cairo, worried. Abdullah who roams the streets of the capital day and night with his brand new Korean-made Hyundai Verna has seen supporters of the candidates fighting everywhere. “I saw people fighting each other with big knives and even rifles,” he said. “I will never go out on the day of the vote, or I will be crazy,” he added.
