The voting on the third merit of the roadmap of 30 June has started, the step that President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi announced when he was then-minister of defence. He took the side of those who went out to the streets to object former president Mohamed Morsi’s rule.
The media is taking the authority’s side, out of free will, and started promoting and even marketing the third merit and the candidates. The exceptions are also perceived as from the previous regimes, in addition to the political Islamic stream that still has strong presence in political life, in spite of the deterioration of the most prominent current-Muslim Brotherhood, with the rise of the Salafis and their party.
They are also a faction that does not have as much popularity as the lot of rejection they face in the political street and among young people.
The results of the third merit of the 30 June roadmap is not limited to knowing who succeeded and who failed, who took a seat in the parliament and who did not. The results will be an important indication for the regime of Al-Sisi on how much the Egyptian street is satisfied by the country’s circumstances.
The number and rates of voters will be a sincere indicator on the revival of political life in Egypt. They will be an indicator on the Egyptians’ psychological state and their feelings of the change they were willing.
Who followed all of the voting moments after announcing the 30 June roadmap finds that there is a significant decline in the number of voters, pushing the state to add one more day to the voting period in the first presidential elections after the fall of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Moreover, in the constitution referendum, the ballot boxes lost about 10 million votes. Unfortunately, we are waiting for the same thing to happen in the upcoming parliamentary elections. I do not actually know how many votes the boxes will lose this time, and I hope the bleeding is not copious, especially since the question everybody asks is “are those worthy?” about all candidates, whether among the lists or individually.
The members of the dissolved National Democratic Party (NDP) strongly returned, directing the rudder towards the return of their bygone time. The bearded ones returned as the “Islam is the Solution” and changing their draft not to be a subject to legal liability. Between those who were waiting for their turn in the past eras to join the power train and become close to the ruler to make their dreams come true have appeared again.
Perhaps not all of this is obvious for everyone but those who follow up and listen to the dialogues of the conscious educated youth will know that this is the view that the majority of Egypt’s youth see. I hope I am wrong and that I will find more than the 30 million that authorised Al-Sisi to fight terrorism to go and vote to authorise the parliament members to fight poverty, unemployment, disease, and deterioration of situation and services. But what if it does not happen?
I do not have the answer. I am not pessimistic by nature and I am of those who prefer to wait until the scene is complete. But if our expectation is true, that means the state should work on having the public’s trust again. This requires immense effort, under a parliament that we do not trust will be inefficient to participate in managing the country. Enough the crises we are suffering; we do not have the ability to bear another crisis that may not be visible enough but strongly looming.
The 2010 parliament caused the downfall of NDP, while the 2012 parliament caused the downfall of the Brotherhood, and because history repeats itself, the 2015 parliament should not be a mix of its predecessors.
The first phase of the parliamentary elections may be a test for the following one, where governorates of this phase do not have the largest percentage of candidates. It was an indicator ignored by NDP in 2010 and the result was the downfall of former president Hosni Mubarak’s regime.
I believe the government must manage its issues well and Al-Sisi must give special attention to all upcoming steps so history won’t repeat itself.
Emad El-Sayed is an Egyptian journalist and the Editor of Daily News Egypt
