Recent Elections in Egypt and Jordan

The recent parliamentarian political elections in Jordan and Egypt (Nov. 2010) reflect nothing but political charade. During the past sixty years, there has been no real and free political election in the Arab world. A clear indicator that reflects the abuse of democracy in the Arab world is the fact that not a single Arab head of state left his political position willingly. Those who left did so as a result of being assassinated, died in office or being forced out by a military coup d’états. The only exception was in Lebanon, where the political parliamentarian elections have been taking place since the end of French colonialism during the 1940s. However, the Lebanese election is still based on sectarian divisions of the population and not on a popular voting system. This gentlemanly agreement was set by the French before their departure from Lebanon. For that reason, political conflict among the various groups (Christian, Sunni Muslims, Shiaa Muslims and Druzes) has been going on since independence.

Nevertheless, Democratic institutions in the Arab world do not exist and no political head of state is held accountable to his people. Political parliamentarian elections take place in the Arab world as rituals to reflect that the government in power is still legitimate and has been officially elected by the people.

The press, foreign and national, that has reported on the Jordanian and Egyptian elections for parliament, has pointed out the irregular procedures and fraud used by the authorities in both countries. Some political parties were banned from participating in the election. The members of other political party members faced difficulties or were unable to get clearance from the authority to run. In addition, certain procedures were used by the government in allocation of the number of parliament seats in certain districts, which affected the result of the election in favor of the ruling party. The pres reported that some candidates were buying votes from participants, which is illegal according to state laws. However, it took place without opposition. In the meantime, social and political unrest took place among the political supporters of candidates in both Jordan and Egypt. This led to few cases of death in both countries.

As usual, the result of the elections for the parliament or heads of state can be predicted in advance. The government’s party has always won the election. In the Egyptian case, the National Party won all the seats in parliament (12/2/2010). Hence, it will be in a position to nominate president Mubarak for another term!

Political elections in the Arab world are based on fraud and irregularities. They are acts of deception and the public is aware of it. For that reason only a small percentage of the population goes to the polls to exercise their rights to participate in the election of their representative.