The presidential election circus in Egypt

The Presidential Election Commission announced the names of the two candidates who will run for presidency in Egypt, namely Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and his shadow Hamdeen Sabahi, who was not able to meet the election eligibility requirements in accordance with the defective candidacy law customised by the interim president to fit his ‘ruler’ who appointed him, Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi. Therefore Al-Sisi’s campaign had to lend Sabahi what he needed to meet the requirements in order for the farcical play to go on and for the circus to perform on the scheduled dates of May 26 and 27. This circus aims to delude the world into thinking a real election will take place in Egypt, making the de facto president of the country since the July 3rd the official president of Egypt in a ceremony where 21 cannons will be launched in his honour, the national anthem is played, the red carpet is laid out, and he is saluted on his way to the presidential palace to sit on the throne he has been dreaming of for 30 years. He reached the ‘throne’ upon the remains of thousands of martyrs whose pure blood had shed onto the throne and he will be haunted by them every time he sits on it.

Whenever Al-Sisi sits on the throne, he will feel like he is being engulfed by a fire, the fire of his crimes, and he will wish and try to extinguish them, but he shall fail. Sooner or later, he will be consumed by the fire and remain its prisoner, as murderers are constantly haunted by their crimes and traitors always live in fear and anxiety, even from the people closest to them. He will live in fear because he does not want the treason he committed against the previous president, his leader, to happen to him; Al-Sisi will not enjoy or live happily during his time on the throne, the throne of blood and fire.

Everyone welcomed Al-Sisi’s candidacy, both his supporters and the supporters of the legitimacy, but each for completely different reasons. It is obvious why the supporters of the coup are happy about his candidacy, while the supporters of legitimacy who are against the coup were happy about his candidacy because they want the chance to prove to the many doubters that what happened on July 3rd was a coup, not a popular revolution, as people continued to chant. They are happy that Al-Sisi, the commander of the bloody coup, will be burned by the fire of governing, and we will see who will help extinguish it.

The coup supporters deliberately caused crises and put obstacles before the legitimately elected president in order to fail his experience, and now they are dealing with crises from every angle. They have been in power for the past 10 months and haven’t improved anything in the country, instead, the country has experienced further crises and without resolving even one. The country and the people have slipped further into poorness and misery; the electricity cuts off numerous times a day, the prices of gas and diesel continues to increase, the rule concerning the minimum and maximum wage was not applied, as they had claimed would be, and they did not achieve security and safety in the community, instead the crime rate has increased in Egypt due to the security services’ preoccupation with pursuing peaceful demonstrators, and those raising the Rabaa hand gesture or carrying balloons with the Rabaa hand drawn on them. This symbol scares and worries them more than a murderer killing another citizen in order to steal their money, or a rapist going after a girl, or any other criminal offense.

The hopes of the Egyptians for stability and security after the brutal coup led by Al-Sisi and his companions have been lost, and some Egyptians have woken up from their slumber. However, I only say some Egyptians, because unfortunately, a lot of Egyptians still live in the coma of the lying deceiving Egyptian media, which misguides them day and night, spreads rumours, and demonises the Muslim Brotherhood. This media was able to spread the culture of hatred within the Egyptian society and succeeded in creating an imaginary enemy called the Muslim Brotherhood. Unfortunately, all of the Egyptian people will pay the price, as the spread of this culture is tearing the national Egyptian society apart, affecting every house in Egypt. The Egyptian people will become two different nations, as promoted by the singer Ali Hajjar in his fascist song that promotes the spirit of banding and hostility amongst the Egyptian people and encourages them to fight. This is what the coup-leaders hope for and encourage, but the anti- coup side has completely rejected this.

The coup leaders want to turn the revolution into a civil war to justify the crimes they are committing against the peaceful demonstrators, but the anti-coup side will never give them the opportunity or pretext to do so, regardless of the sacrifices they will have to make. This is due to the fact that they believe the saying of the Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood that their peacefulness is stronger than any bullet, and this scares the coup leaders because they know very well that blood will triumph over the sword.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.