- 2010 election update
- October 4, 2010
- 5 minutes read
Skepticism looms as US Senate pushes for free elections in Egypt
Many analysts remain skeptical of a Senate draft resolution currently in the works to urge Egyptian government “to take all steps necessary to ensure that upcoming elections are free, fair, transparent and credible, including granting independent international and domestic electoral observers unrestricted access”, “
The resolution, which has been drafted in the Senate by Russ Feingold and John McCain, is also enjoying bipartisan support from across the aisles like Senators Al Franken and Jon Kyl, and further calls for the goverment to “revoke the Egyptian Emergency Law and to release all detainees arrested under that law”
Skeptics question how committed the US government can be in promotion democracy in Egypt, knowing the popularity of the Muslim Brotherhood, the main political opposition and the possible winner of majority seats if free and transparent elections is ever held in Egypt.
Many former US government officials and academics, including former Secretary of State under President Bill Clinton Madeleine Albright, former Middle East adviser to President George W. Bush Elliott Abrams, Brookings scholar Robert Kagan, and Michele Dunne of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, have called on President Barack Obama to take a tougher stance in support of democracy and respect for human rights in the Middle East in general
The US government, under pressure of the powerful pro-Israeli lobby, does not favor the Muslim Brotherhood involvement in Egyptian foreign policies, as it considers the group is a hard-line Islamist group, which might pose a threat to peace treaties signed between Egypt and Israel.
