Will the coup by the old regime, and its attempt to install Ahmed Shafiq as president, reignite Egypt's revolutionary forces?
David Hearst
guardian.co.uk, Friday 15 June 2012
"......Then there are the byzantine ways of what is called "soft rigging". In the first round, 2m false ID cards were issued to members of the armed forces and security services who are by law forbidden to vote. The ballot boxes in roughly half of the polling stations were left unguarded by representatives of all political parties for 11 hours. About 40% of the 90m electorate fall below the international poverty line, and in rural areas voters were given 500 Egyptian pounds to vote for any candidate other than the brotherhood.
This is certainly not the last throw of the dice for the old regime, but the challenge is whether the rigging will be enough to tilt the balance in Shafiq's favour......
Not all army generals are in favour of Shafiq, and some see the writing on the wall. Whatever happens, Egypt has been changed by the revolution. It is no longer forbidden to challenge authority. The Pharonic mask has slipped from the face of Egypt's new rulers.
But to get to a political order which reflects this new reality may yet be hard and possibly bloody work. Like the Nile running below the children on the bridge, the revolution is still running a turbulent course."
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