Elections in Cairo

Yesterday Egypt held Presidential Elections! Go voting its your birthday!

The BBC Says "While pro-government papers overflow with praise for what they see as the start of a new democratic era, independent and opposition papers highlight flaws in the vote and the need for faster and more radical reform".

I think both pretty much right. Its an incredible step, and one that will hopefully lead to chain reaction of similar steps- however there are still massive things that need to change before a real democracy is built.

Everyone I talked to up till the vote took the outcome of the election as given - Mubarak to be returned once more, for good reasons and for bad. The outcome was a foregone conclusion- but the reason is deeper than issues of vote rigging or unbalanced access to media alone. Egyptian power structures have reached a balance that seems to work for a hell of a lot of people- and looking at what it is really balancing here, things could be a lot worse. The balance between a police state which has had the military deployed for 30 years, with the resurgence of extremism who want a much more conservative Islamic state, with the largest base of moderates Muslims in the region, with the oldest and one of the most respected Islamic bodies (Al-Azhar) in the region, and to mix it up - a country with a 42% illiteracy rate. Now how is democracy meant to work here again? A tough act- and so the “support the Status Quo” argument has a bit more to lean upon than the "dictator model" alone would suggest.

The general consensus is that these elections have been a step in the right direction- the very act of comparing candidates and having people speak out for change is an important cultural and political development. However, a huge amount needs to be improved in the coming 6 years if the next election is to be close to “free and fair”, but it does give a timeline for change and a base to compare the political futures with. Voting and a freer and fairer media is only part of the battle- what can democracy mean with almost half the country unable to read the information on which they are meant to be deciding? The bigger issues- poverty and education- must be at the forefront of change if real progress in democratic instititions are to have a meaningful effect in bringing political freedom to this country.

A salute to all Egyptians who voted yesterday! May it truly be a landmark in your history.