A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Egypt On the Eve

The Egyptian election for President begins tomorrow. Since a runoff will be required we still won't knoiw the results for a while, but at least we will finally, 15 months after the departure of Husni Mubarak, get some clue about who will lead Egypt (along with the Army, most likely) for the net several years.

The New York Times looks at the role of SCAF;  while if you need a last-minute rundown of the candidates see this piece at Ahram Online. There had been talk that SCAF would unilaterally issue a new Constitutional Declaration to set the terms of the new President's power since there is no constitution in place; now they're "not setting a timeframe" but clearly it's awkward if neither the voters nor the candidates know what the powers of the new President will be.

So they're off. Let's see what happens.

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