Election Day

Personally, I find maps like this fascinating. The competition to capture seats in Parliament and to win governates really shows the will of the people and Egypt's shining example of democracy to other Middle Eastern countries.

But I guess a slightly more accurate representation of the "will of the people" would look something like this:



The Muslim Brotherhood, the government's main opposition and a banned party, took 20% of the seats in Parliament in the 2005 election. This time they won 0. Ok, Mubarak, you're not going to give them much power. But 0? Asking many Egyptians, none of them honestly believed these numbers. They're not even in the ballpark.

Of course, Mubarak has to be credited with maintaining an astonishing amount of stability in this country of organized chaos. But he's getting old, and another 30 years just doesn't seem all that practical anymore. (I could be wrong, though. Doctors are very good these days.)
Some people think that his son, Gamal Mubarak, is being groomed as his successor. But Gamal is a businessman with not as much experience in politics, and I'm not sure Egyptians want to see the continuation of yet another Pharaonic dynasty.

Right now, the most clear alternative to this scenario is the Muslim Brotherhood, the largest and best-organized opposition group that provides key services to poorer parts of Egypt and has an Islamist bent. If they somehow wrested power from Mubarak, we can expect many big changes in Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood believes that Egypt should adopt stricter Islamic law and govern according to shari'a, an idea that is becoming widespread throughout the Muslim world but has many differing interpretations. We don't really know how much the Brotherhood would have to moderate their views if they ever gained power, as Egypt has a large Coptic Christian minority that would be totally against living in a country governed by Islamic law. These people claim to be the original Egyptians, before the arrival of Islam in the 700s. These laws, added to their minority status, could make them feel even more like outsiders in their own country. The Brotherhood has also railed vehemently against the State of Israel and Egyptian-Israeli relations since 1979, and it's possible that once in power they could abrogate the peace treaty. (But if they do get power, I assume they'd have larger problems to deal with in Egypt than a rhetorical move against an annoying neighbor.)

Is Egypt really ready for democracy? Mubarak thinks not, according to the results.

Zero seats for the main opposition. Sifr. Ma fish haga. It's really an insult to people's intelligence.

So Egypt has a choice between stability and dictatorship, and religious fundamentalism and democracy. Based on what's just happened, next year's presidential election should be very, very interesting.