An insult to revolutionary Egypt

The paucity of decent candidates in presidential elections highlights the lack of choice facing Egyptians

Mona Eltahawy
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 19 April 2012

"The circus otherwise known as the presidential elections in Egypt is making an anarchist of me. There isn't a single candidate I find either qualified or deserving to lead revolutionary Egypt, and I don't believe the elections will be free or fair – how can they be, under a military junta that has run Egypt since 18 days of revolution forced Hosni Mubarak to step down on 11 February 2011?

Concerned with guaranteeing itself immunity from trial for crimes against the people and protecting its legendary budget from civilian oversight when it hands over power after next month's presidential elections, the junta – according to which conspiracy you believe – is machiavellian in its evil-genius ability to manipulate the public into voting for its preferred candidate, or as confused as everyone else.

It has certainly been helped by the Islamists' endless missteps. Again, according to which conspiracy you favour, those same Islamists – be they Muslim Brotherhood or ultra-conservative Salafis – are either in cahoots with the junta in an attempt to guarantee their own slice of power, or as hapless as the rest of us trying to end military rule.

From where I stand, it's not just a slice but a desire to swallow the cake whole that has hamstrung the Islamists – who control 70% of parliament – and highlighted how Mubarak and his predecessors gutted Egyptian politics......

Now that the rollercoaster has dipped many are surveying the scene, and the strongest candidates are a former regime man (Amr Moussa, also ex-head of that club of dictators otherwise known as the Arab League), and a former Muslim Brotherhood man (Abdel-Moneim Aboul-Fotouh, who was kicked out of the movement back in the day when it still maintained that it wouldn't contest the presidency).

I look at this "choice" and hear the tortured justifications made in their favour and they sound awfully similar: hollow.

The whole point of overthrowing Mubarak was that we had ended fear. The revolution continues, not just to end military rule but to provide alternatives to the best of the worst. We still have a way to go."