December 14th, 2010 by Jason

Michele Dunne and Amr Hamzawy write in a recent article that the parliamentary elections in Egypt “solved” one problem for the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) by ending the Muslim Brotherhood presence in parliament, but created “a host” of other issues. Dunne and Hamzawy argue that the “three components of legitimacy—voter turnout, a fair electoral process, and balanced representation in the legislative branch combined with its relative autonomy from the executive branch,” have effectively ceased to exist, bringing Egyptian politics to a “new low.” The authors foresee two other problems for the NDP: Legal challenges to the new parliament, which have already begun, and the “political cause for concern” of how the NDP will handle the upcoming presidential race in 2011. “The last thing the NDP wants is real opposition competition for the presidency, but the second-to-last thing it wants is the appearance of no competition at all.”

Posted in Egypt, Elections, Judiciary, Muslim Brotherhood, Political Parties |