Egypt’s Liberals Demand Faster Transition
Under the current transition schedule, Egypt’s Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) plans to turn over executive power to a civilian government in late June. However, some anti-SCAF activists rejected this timetable and demanded that the military leave power much sooner. Activist groups like the April 6 youth movement plan to demonstrate across Egypt on the first anniversary of the January 25 revolution to protest continuing military rule. But liberal groups have fallen out of favor with the Egyptian public, argues Leila Fadel in the Washington Post, particularly after months of clashes with police that disrupted businesses in Cairo and disappointing performances in recent parliamentary elections. Writing for the Freedom House blog, Alfred Stepan claims that after the revolution Egypt’s liberals were too willing to abdicate power to the military in order to curb the influence of Islamists in the next parliament and over writing the new constitution. Stepan argues that this attitude emboldened the SCAF to try to maintain as much executive power as possible, especially over laws pertaining to the military budget and oversight. Former President Jimmy Carter commented on the military when he visited Egypt this week, saying “I don’t think the SCAF is going to turn over full responsibility to the civilian government. There are going to be some privileges of the military that would probably be protected.”
Also writing for Freedom House, Sherif Mansour counters that Egypt’s liberals should not be counted out of politics simply because they performed poorly at the polls. The January 25 revolution was driven largely by young liberal activists, and it was fierce liberal opposition which forced the SCAF to move up presidential elections from 2013 to June 2012. Egypt’s liberal forces also faced much stronger pressure from the military than Islamist groups, Mansour notes, claiming that “only liberal leaders of the revolution were put on trial in military courts, defamed on TV and in public statements, and targeted for investigation because they organized demonstrations”. Despite that pressure, liberals still won about a third of the seats in the next parliament.
According to Alfred Stepan, “the prospects for a democratic transition in Egypt would be strengthened if liberal and moderate Islamist forces would reach consensus on the way forward”. Attempts at reaching a consensus stance on the transition have already been made: this week leaders from across Egypt’s political and religious spectrum met with the Grand Sheikh of Al Azhar, Ahmed Al Tayyep, to sign a draft ‘bill of rights’; these included a commitment to basic rights and the ideals of the January 25 revolution. Among the signatories were presidential candidates, religious figures, and representatives from the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice and the conservative Salafi Al Nour parties. For its part the SCAF reaffirmed this week that it was committed to its current transition schedule and planned to hand over power to a civilian government at the end of June.
