Egypt’s sham election
EGYPT’S presidential election this week could have been one of the most competitive in its history, even with the exclusion of banned Islamist parties. Three former high-ranking military leaders announced they would challenge incumbent Abdel-Fattah elSissi, who seized power in a military coup nearly five years ago. One, Ahmed Shafik, is a former prime minister who made the runoff in the 2012 election. Also planning campaigns were Mohamed Anwar al-Sadat, a nephew of one of the country’s most renowned presidents, and Khaled Ali, a human rights lawyer.
In the end, none of them appeared on the ballot. All were forced out; Shafik was held vritually incommuni- cado in a hotel until he relented, while the two other former officers were imprisoned. Sissi then took to television to proclaim his disappointment that other “distinguished people” were not running against him. “We are not ready, isn’t it a shame,” he said.
The lineup of candidates Sissi might have faced showed that dissatisfaction with his rule runs deep. That’s because his regime has been the most repressive in Egypt’s modern history, having tortured or murdered thousands of real or suspected opponents and imprisoned tens of thousands of others.
Several of the prospective candidates indicated they opposed Sissi’s concentration of power, his militarisation of the economy and his denial of the rights Egyptians sought during the 2011 revolution. “A true democracy and basic human rights are not a given,” said Shafik in a launch video. For this he was detained and intimidated into silence.
Under Sissi, Egypt is failing. His regime has been unable to defeat terrorist groups in the Sinai Peninsula. It has increased Egypt’s foreign debt by more than 75 percent, wasting tens of billions of dollars on megaprojects. It has allowed North Korea to use its Cairo embassy to sell weapons across the region.
In keeping with its affection for Arab strongmen, the Trump administration has shrugged at all this. Those in Washington who recognise the trouble the Sissi regime is storing up have stopped hoping the White House would pressure the dictator for change. Instead, in a pre-election letter to acting Secretary of State John Sullivan, it urged the administration “not to treat this election as a legitimate expression of the Egyptian people’s will and to withhold praise or congratulations”.
No such luck. Even as news services reported dismally low turnout, the US Embassy in Cairo cheerfully tweeted, “As Americans we are very impressed by the enthusiasm and patriotism of Egyptian voters.”
It’s one thing to tolerate the Sissi regime; why must the Trump administration also propagate fake news on its behalf?