By Michael Rogers
I have been watching the demonstrations in Egypt with hopeful concern for the past few weeks. I am praying that the people of Egypt can achieve their dreams of freedom without any more violence and achieve a new era of freedom and prosperity.
Many commentators have been suggesting that many Egyptian political parties are not organized sufficiently enough to proceed to elections in the near future. I do not know how valid that contention is but I offer a suggestion for a process that would support coalition building while political parties are maturing.
Step 1: Require each candidate to get nominating signatures from the electorate for their district. (Perhaps 1,000-2,000 for a parliamentary district and perhaps the same amount per governorate for presidential candidates.) Other restrictions would also be helpful such as barring those convicted of crimes of violence from being a candidate. Otherwise, allow the electorate to decide among the candidates.
Step 2: First election in which all candidates qualified under step 1 are allowed to run. If a candidate receives fifty or more percent of the votes, the candidate wins the election. If no candidate receives fifty percent of the votes go to step 3.
Step 3: For two weeks after the results of the first election are certified, the candidates may throw their support and their votes behind another candidate in order to achieve fifty percent. If there is no coalition that can reach fifty percent behind a single candidate then the second election is held a week later. The candidates from the first election with the most votes are added to the ballot for the second election until eighty percent of the votes cast in the first election are accounted for. Candidates who formed coalitions short of fifty percent may formally join their votes behind one candidate for the second election in order to improve their position or make the cut for the second election. If a candidate receives fifty or more percent of the votes, the candidate wins the election. If no candidate receives fifty percent of the votes go to step 4.
Step 4: For two weeks after the results of the second election are certified, the candidates may throw their support and their votes behind another candidate in order to achieve fifty percent. If there is no coalition that can reach fifty percent behind a single candidate then the third and final election is held a week later. The two candidates from the second election with the most votes are placed on the ballot for the third election. Candidates who formed coalitions short of fifty percent may formally join their votes behind one candidate for the third election in order to improve their position or make the cut for the third election. This final election will determine the winner of the election if the first or second did not already.
This process allows a factionalized electorate and parties to form coalitions preliminary to the formal building of parties. If parties are sufficiently strong enough to achieve fifty percent of the vote in an election then it will not matter if this process is in place. On the other hand, this has the potential to allow an ad hoc coalition to form amongst smaller parties that are more closely aligned in values in order to not be overrun by a large minority party winning with less than a majority of the voters behind it.
Freedom loving people around the world wish for the best for the people of Egypt in your quest for freedom. God be with you all!
