Electoral farce in Egypt

By Alain Gresh 
On March 26 and 28 Egyptians will be called to the polls to choose the President of the Republic. If we had to describe in one word a process which can hardly be termed “electoral,” the word that comes immediately to mind is “farce,” a theatrical performance mingling ridicule and hypocrisy. The stage has been carefully cleared of all the actors who might overshadow the star, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, candidate for his own succession.
Thus countless politicians have been disqualified on the most far-fetched pretexts. And, first of all, there was former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik who scored 48% in the 2012 presidential run-off—the only democratic election the country has ever known—against Mohamed Morsi, of the Muslim Brotherhood. Having declared his candidacy in Abu Dhabi where he had taken refuge, he was bundled into a plane for Cairo, where it took several weeks of “friendly persuasion” to make him withdraw.
At the beginning of January, the former chief of staff (2005-2012) Sami Anan declared his intention to run. It wasn’t a good idea: he was arrested and jailed, in spite of an unwritten law that former generals never go to prison. Colonel Ahmed Konsawa was also sentenced to five years in prison by a military court for having dared to put forward his candidacy. Under these conditions the last remaining hopefuls, Muhammad Anwar el-Sadat —the former president’s nephew, who was not even allowed to hold a press conference—and Khaled Ali, a left-wing lawyer, withdrew from what is obviously a rigged election.
The second act of this farce took place a few days before the close of nominations. (Read on on the original site of this post)