DOMESTIC POLITICS
Nazif tries to stay on message about reform despite NDP election losses…
Elections everywhere
“A strong showing by the Muslim Brotherhood in parliamentary elections has caught Egypt’s rulers off guard and could shake up politics in the biggest Arab country,” Reuters says… CS Monitor explores the idea of legalizing the group… A Brotherhood big wig explains the situation… (Direct link to the brotherhood leader’s comment in the Guardian…)
Interpreting the results… again
One interpretation for this sudden turn of events, was proffered by Negad el-Borai, a human rights advocate and elections’ monitor, to AP: “The people are saying we hate the ruling party, we hate the government and we will get anybody to rule us except you.“
Whose influence?
A few interesting comments on how democratic the process might or might not be… And, somewhat over-worked musings on US influence on — and reactions to — the elections, featuring quotes like: “The Americans have reassessed the situation and come to the conclusion that fast and vigorous democratization in Egypt is impossible and will work in an undesirable way…” Also, the United States expressed “real concern“, and said it expected the Cairo government to ensure a vote free of intimidation.
Judicial escalation?
Angry judge makes election fraud clear…The Judges club call for army protection only makes it to UPI..
Money and “baltaga”
More election related violence in Gharbiya… Meanwhile, a man was killed in a fight between supporters of two rival politicians north of Cairo on Wednesday in the second death in violence linked to Egypt’s legislative elections… Plus, “the European Parliament delegation which went to Egypt to witness the first phase of parliamentary elections there has decided not to go back for the final phase. The delegation felt that there was little point in returning because of the negative impressions it had on 9 November. These impressions have since been confirmed by NGOs and subsequent events in Egypt…” According to the NY Times: “The violence was seen as a government effort to create chaos to prevent the Muslim Brotherhood from making further gains in the second round of three-stage parliamentary elections.” | 
