Saturday, June 23, 2012

Egypt in the middle of.. eh in the middle of what?

A well known spectacle: massive  payers at Tahrir Square. A huge crowd participated this Friday in protests against the additions to the constitution and the shutdown of parliament. (Al-Ahram Online/Mai Shaheen).

 Uncertainty, that is probably the one word that comes to mind when thinking about Egypt this Saturday evening. On Friday a new massive demonstration was held at Tahrir against. A protest against SCAF, against the new additions it introduced to the constitution whereby it gave itself the last word in almost everything and certainly in matters pertaining to the army, and against dissolving the parliament. Also it was a demonstration fór Mohammed Morsy as president. It was quite clear that most of the protesters belonged top the  Muslim Brotherhood.
In the meantime tension, uncertainty and suspense are on the rise. Who is to become the first elected Egyptian president after Mubarak? Morsi? Shafiq? All unofficial counts put Morsi in the lead with about 52%. But Shafiq's camp continues to claim that it's not Morsi but their man who is the winner. And a spokesman for SCAF (which as everybody knows, has much more sympathy for Shafiq), heightened the tension by declaring - unofficially of course - that in the end Shafiq will turn out to be the winner with 50,7%.  Strange, for sure, but we have just to wait a little more. The publication of the final results, originally scheduled for Thursday, have been delayed until Sunday 15.00 p.m.
And delayed for what reason? One theory (or probably it is more than just that) exposed in Al Ahram Online, is that the time in between was needed by SCAF to try and reach a deal between them and the Ikhwan, whereby the Ikhwan will bend and go along with a few demands of the military. Demands like giving up their opposition to the dissolution of parliament. The message that Ahmed Shafiq was up for a winning position with these 50,7%, was, according to this story, no more than a threat, meant  to increase the pressure on the Ikhwan.
And the Brotherhood itself, meanwhile, is rapidly learning from its mistakes. No longer is it doing it alone, or trying to have its own deals with SCAF as it used to do in the past. Talks have been held, if we may believe Al Ahram Online, with the 'secular' opposition to get them on their side, in order to have a unified stand in the face of the threat of a prolonged military rule, and several deals are in the make or have already been made.
Tomorrow we'll know more. Tomorrow will be a big day. But be sure that many more big days are here to come.

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