(Jerusalem Post) Zvi Mazel - Both the Muslim Brotherhood and the secular parties in Egypt are united against the current electoral law and the timetable for voting set down by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. Former Arab League head Amr Moussa claims to be the most popular. But he is too much a man of the old regime to convince the people that he could lead the country to a brighter future. Therein lies the army's great dilemma: There is no one to take over. The new electoral law keeps one-third of the seats in parliament for "workers and peasants" - a leftover from the old constitution where it was used to appoint government supporters to the parliament. All parties also opposed Article 5, which allowed candidates to run as independents - without being members of any party. This was widely considered to be meant to allow members of the banned former ruling party to be candidates. With the cumbersome electoral process that has been announced, the army will be in charge at least until the end of 2012. The writer is a former Israeli ambassador to Egypt.
2011-10-10 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive