Another Arab election - this one in Egypt

Al-Ahram Weekly | Egypt | Begging to differ:

"'Nothing is going to change,' Counselor Yehia El-Refai, a respected ex-judge and honourary president of the Judges Club, told Al-Ahram Weekly. 'This is a very immoral government and it will ensure the election does not produce results it does not want.'"

This is a particularly gloomy assessment of the present round parliamentary elections. Despite amending the constitution to permit multiple candidates to contest individual seats in parliament, Egypt's president Hosni Mubarak is still suspected of bad faith by many in his own country.

Perhaps Mubarak is not a true democrat, it would be highly unlikely if it were so. Yet that may not mean that he intends to steal under the new rules what he could have "legally" given himself under the old rules. Perhaps he is simply recognizing that his position is not so secure that he can rule indefinitely and then successfully turn the reins over to his son, Gamal. Suppose his only motive is to smooth the way for Gamal, the reforms have set Egypt on a path from which turning back would be very difficult.

The real danger, as we have seen elsewhere in the region (Algeria expecially), is that greater democracy will serve only to enhance the power of the least democratic elements in the society - in the case of Egypt, that means the Muslim Brotherhood.