Almost four months since the presidential elections, liberals and secularists have yet to learn their lesson. In the elections, Egypt's first since Hosni Mubarak's ousting in February last year, liberal and secular contenders were elbowed out of the first round of the vote, leaving the Muslim Brotherhood candidate, Mohammed Morsi, and an ex-Air Force general, Ahmed Shafiq, to battle it out in the run-off. Morsi emerged the winner by a narrow margin. A key reason for the liberals' dismal performance in the presidential elections was their disunity, tinged by selfishness. Pre-poll bids to field a single candidate on behalf of liberals and leftists fizzled out. Each laboured under the illusion that he was a hot favourite. The same mistake is being repeated ahead of the legislative elections, expected to be held early next year. Faced with well-organised Islamists who scored a landslide in the previous parliamentary polls, liberals and leftists are scrambling to set up alliances. In the past two weeks, at least three such coalitions have come to light. Hamdeen Sabahi, an ex-leftist presidential contestant, is spearheading efforts to cobble together a pre-poll grouping called the ‘Third Current'. Meanwhile, Amr Moussa, a secularist who also lost in the presidential race, is in the process of forging another alliance, dubbed the ‘Alliance of the Egyptian Nation'. The Constitution Party, headed by leading reformist and Nobel Laureate Mohammed ElBaradei, is reportedly the standard-bearer of a third liberal coalition. The battle cry for all these alliances is to unify the ranks of liberals and leftists, squaring up against Islamists. However, these efforts are likely to backfire. One reason is that members of these groupings are notorious for squabbling among themselves and failing to work as one team. Equally worrying, liberals and leftists have no strong street presence. They have to admit to this fact and face up to it, if they are to fare better in the coming legislative elections. Despite their major role in the anti-Mubarak revolt, liberals and leftists have failed to fully grasp the changes in post-Mubarak Egypt. Ordinary people are obviously weary of protests and want to see a real improvement in their lives. Slogans are no longer satisfying. People need genuine changes. This is a hard test for the Islamists and liberals alike. Nonetheless, the challenge is more daunting for the liberals, who do not have a strong grassroots base. Despite the dwindling popularity of the Islamists, as seen in the presidential elections, they continue to be the country's most well-organised grouping. They traditionally claim a huge following in rural areas, unlike secularists, who are portrayed by some radical clerics as heretics. Time is running out for the liberals. They must adopt a sea change in their tactics and convince the public of their credibility. Unity can save the day for them. Instead of appearing so fractured and disorientated, liberals and leftists have to join forces in one credible grouping. At the same time, they have to get down to street business to change public perception of them. They have to offer the people, especially those living in rural areas, viable solutions to their problems. To the layman, liberals are perceived as dreamy people detached from mainstream life and its daily sufferings. As fears mount in Egypt about the Islamists' power and their bids to reshape society's identity, the liberals must bear a portion of the blame. Their failure to counterbalance the Islamists' influence threatens Egypt with a latter-day dictatorship cloaked in religion.
