Egypt’s election: how the non-democrats collaborated to freeze the democrats out

The first phase of Egypt’s parliamentary election is in the books and outside observers are facing the reality of an Islamist majority in parliament. What is not as well known is how it happened.

Elections in Muslim-majority nations are replete with tales of autocrats rigging the vote, largely to the advantage of “opposition” Islamists and to the detriment of genuine democrats. Pervez Musharraf did it repeatedly in Pakistan, which I mention because it was the one example Daniel Pipes and Cynthia Farahat neglected to mention in their otherwise excellent review of the subject (National Review Online, emphasis added):

Other Middle Eastern dictators, such as the Yemeni president and Palestinian Authority chairman, also play this double game, pretending to be anti-Islamist moderates and Western allies while, in fact, being toughs who cooperate with Islamists and repress true moderates. Even anti-Western tyrants like Assad of Syria and Qaddafi of Libya have played the same opportunistic game in times of need, portraying massive uprisings against them as Islamist movements. (Recall how Qaddafi blamed the Libyan insurrection on al-Qaeda’s lacing teenagers’ coffee with hallucinatory pills.)

But did this happen in Egypt? Yup.

Today, (Egyptian military chief Mohamad) Tantawi and his Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) still play this tired old game. Note the various methods:

Reports of electoral fraud have emerged, for example in Helwan.

SCAF has, according to the prominent Islamist Safwat Hijazi, offered a “deal” to the Islamists that it would share power with them on condition that they turn a blind eye to its corruption.

The military has subsidized both the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafi political parties during the recent parliamentary elections. Marc Ginsburg reports on a SCAF slush fund totaling millions of dollars in “the form of ‘walk around’ money, clothing and food giveaways” that enabled hundreds of local chapters of Islamist political organizations to buy votes. Ginsburg tells of a SCAF emissary who “met secretly with representatives of the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist oriented political movements last April to establish local political ‘action committee’ bank accounts to funnel an underground supply chain of financial and commodity support.”

So once again, the fellows who were the target of the popular uprising split the opposition – and made a deal with the Islamist fellows to freeze out the actual democrats.

At some point, the Egyptian military will pick a fight with their new allies and use it to pretend to America that it is our only friend in Egypt. We should pay no attention (let alone aid) to them, and make clear we will do what we can to help the Egyptian democrats. That will be easier than may think now that the MB and Nour become de facto partners in the corrupt kleptocracy that went right on running Egypt into the ground after Mubarak left.

Cross-posted to the right-wing liberal

Contribute for Conservatism!

About the author

D.J. McGuire

Former candidate for Board of Supervisors in Spotsylvania, current blogger, economics teacher, and long-rumored windbag. There are two causes closest to the heart: steering the country away from the social democratic nonsense that is sinking Europe, and convincing the rest of the "rightosphere" that the NBA really is a joy to watch.