Candidates Shafik and Moussa held positions under the Mubarak regime and won 35% of the vote. Egyptian presidential election, 2012 coverage at the Guardian. Obama says Egypt's transition 'must begin now'. An envoy for Obama urged Mubarak to drop his re-election. The history of Egypt under Hosni Mubarak spans a period of 29 years, beginning with the 1981 assassination of President Anwar Sadat and lasting until the Egyptian.
History of Egypt under Hosni Mubarak. For a biography of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, see Hosni Mubarak. The history of Egypt under Hosni Mubarak spans a period of 2. President. Anwar Sadat and lasting until the Egyptian revolution of January 2. Mubarak was overthrown in a popular uprising as part of the broader Arab Spring movement. His presidency was marked by a continuation of the policies pursued by his predecessor, including the liberalization of Egypt's economy and a commitment to the 1. Camp David Accords. The Egyptian government under Mubarak also maintained close relations with the other member states of the Arab League, as well as the United States, Russia, India, and much of the Western World. However, international non- governmental organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have repeatedly criticized his administration's human rights record. Concerns raised include political censorship, police brutality, arbitrary detention, torture, and restrictions on freedoms of speech, association, and assembly. This is in large part due to Egypt's political structure, in which the President must approve all pieces of legislation and state expenditures before they are enacted. He had previously served as Vice President since 1. Egyptian Air Force during the preceding two decades. He also held the title of Deputy Defence Minister at the time of the 1. October War. Political reform was limited during this period. Prior to 2. 00. 5, opposition candidates were not permitted to run for President, with the position instead being reaffirmed via referendum in the People's Assembly at regular six- year intervals. This changed after a constitutional amendment on 2. May 2. 00. 5, which transformed it into a de jure elected office accountable to the Egyptian people. Presidential elections were held four months later, with Mubarak receiving nearly 8. In order to be listed on the ballot, a presidential candidate must have the endorsement of a political party and the approval of a national election commission. Opposition parties called on voters to boycott the referendum as meaningless, but it passed with over 8. Mubarak Election ProgrammingWASHINGTON — A small, controversial effort launched under President George W. Bush to fund and train election monitors in Egypt played a key role in the. What is expected to happen in Egypt’s presidential election? President Hosni Mubarak is widely expected to win another six-year term when Egypt holds its. The November 2. 00. People's Assembly elections saw 3. National Democratic Party (NDP). The Muslim Brotherhood, founded in Egypt in 1. Egyptian law prohibits the formation of political parties based on religion). Members are known publicly and openly speak their views. Members of the Brotherhood have been elected to the People's Assembly and local councils as independents. The Egyptian political opposition also includes groups and popular movements such as Kefaya and the April 6 Youth Movement, although they are somewhat less organized than officially registered political parties. Bloggers, or cyberactivists as Courtney C. Radsch terms them, have also played an important political opposition role, writing, organizing, and mobilizing public opposition. A dramatic drop in support for Mubarak and his domestic economic reform program increased with surfacing news about his son Alaa being favored in government tenders and privatization. As Alaa started getting out of the picture by 2. Mubarak. Gamal Mubarak branched out with a few colleagues to set up Medinvest Associates Ltd., which manages a private equity fund, and to do some corporate finance consultancy work. Under the law, police powers are extended, constitutional rights suspended and censorship is legalized. Mubarak Election Program For UnionSome 1. 7,0. 00 people are detained under the law, and estimates of political prisoners run as high as 3. The government claimed that opposition groups like the Muslim Brotherhood could come into power in Egypt if the current government did not forgo parliamentary elections, confiscate the group's main financiers' possessions, and detain group figureheads, actions which are virtually impossible without emergency law and judicial- system independence prevention. Mubarak also restore relations with USSR three years after Sadat's expulsion of USSR experts. Egypt also has played a moderating role in such international forums as the UN and the Nonaligned Movement. Under Mubarak, Egypt was a staunch ally of the United States, whose aid to Egypt has averaged $2 billion a year since the 1. Camp David Peace Accords. Egypt's involvement in the coalition was deemed by the US government as crucial in garnering wider Arab support for the liberation of Kuwait. Although unpopular among Egyptians, the participation of Egyptian forces brought financial benefits for the Egyptian government. Reports that sums as large as $5. According to The Economist. In fact, luck was on Hosni Mubarak's side; when the US was hunting for a military alliance to force Iraq out of Kuwait, Egypt's president joined without hesitation. After the war, his reward was that America, the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, and Europe forgave Egypt around $1. In February 1. 98. Central Security Forces mutinied taking to the streets, rioting, burning and looting in demand for better pay. The uprising was the greatest challenge of the Mubarak presidency up to that point and only the second time in modern Egyptian history the Army was dispatched to Egyptian streets to restore order. In one year (1. 99. More police (1. 20) than terrorists (1. Police and security forces regularly used torture and brutality. The Press Law, Publications Law, and the penal code regulated the press, and called for punishment by fines or imprisonment for those who criticized the president. This progress occurred in spite of the government. During the 1. 99. International Monetary Fund arrangements, coupled with massive external debt relief resulting from Egypt's participation in the Gulf War coalition, helped Egypt improve its macroeconomic performance. In the last two decades of Mubarak's reign, inflation was lowered and from 1. GDP per capita based on purchasing- power- parity (PPP) increased fourfold (from US$1. US$4. 53. 5 in 2. US$6. 18. 0 in 2. Monetary restructuring, especially the flotation of the Egyptian pound, the liberalization of the country's money markets, a reform of the tax system and strategic reductions in governmental social spending, resulted in . Egypt ranked 9. 8th out of the 1. More than 3. 4% of the population was twelve years old or younger, and 6. Fewer than 3% of Egyptians were sixty- five years or older. Like most developing countries there was a steady influx of rural inhabitants to the urban areas, but just over half the population still lived in villages. In 1. 98. 9 average life expectancy at birth was 5. The infant mortality rate was 9. Despite this most parents removed their children from school before they graduated from ninth grade. The basic cycle included six years of primary school and after passing special examinations, three years of intermediate school. Secondary students chose between a general (college preparatory) curriculum of humanities, mathematics, or the sciences: and a technical curriculum of agriculture, communications, or industry. Students could advance between grades only after they received satisfactory scores on standardized tests. In 1. 98. 5- 8. 6, early in the Mubark presidency, only 4. An estimated 7. 5% of girls between the ages of six and twelve were enrolled in primary school but 9. In Upper Egypt less than 3. Girls also dropped out of primary school more frequently than boys. Among all girls aged twelve to eighteen in 1. Amnesty International. Retrieved 2. 3 June 2. Any important policy or project must normally have the `blessing` of the President before it can proceed with a reasonable prospect of success. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. International Herald Tribune. Archived from the original on February 1. Retrieved August 2. Retrieved on 2. 01. Interview with MR. GAMAL MUBARAK Chairman Of Medinvest Associates Ltd. Winne. com (1. 99. Retrieved on 2. 01. Law 1. 95. 8/1. 62 (Emergency Law)(Arabic) at EMERglobal Lex, part of the Edinburgh Middle East Report. Retrieved 2 April 2. Egypt After 9/1. 1: Perceptions of the United States 2. March 2. 00. 4^R. Clemente Holder (August 1. Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. Retrieved 2. 6 January 2. American hegemony: preventive war, Iraq, and imposing democracy. Academy of Political Science. Aid to Egypt: Where Does the Money Go? Retrieved 1. 9 June 2. Retrieved 2. 9 January 2. Global Security Newswire. Retrieved 2. 6 April 2. Egypt^EOHR calls for investigating 9. Marwa Al- A'sar/Daily News Egypt. Bradley, Palgrave Maac. Millan, 2. 00. 8. Egypt, 2. 00. 8 freedomhouse. Reporters sans fronti. International Human Developement Indicators UNDP^The World Bank estimates Egypt's gini coefficient from 1. GINI index World Bank^Egypt. Country Brief^Suzanne Choney (2. January 2. 01. 1). Retrieved 2. 8 January 2. Retrieved 2. 8 January 2. Retrieved 2. 8 January 2. Retrieved 2. 8 January 2. Transparency International. Retrieved 2. 6 October 2. Egypt - Population^ abcd. Education, from Egypt: A Country Study. Helen Chapin Metz, ed. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1. Retrieved 2. 8 January 2. Retrieved 1. 1 February 2. Retrieved 1. 1 February 2. Retrieved 1. 3 April 2. Retrieved 2. 4 May 2. Breaking the Fear Barrier of Mubarak’s Regime . Living in Cairo, there is a thought that constantly comes to mind: there is so much potential in this place. It becomes painfully obvious everyday that the regime that controls Egypt is precisely what has come between Egypt and its full economic, social and ultimately democratic potential. In Tahrir Square—the urban focal point of Cairo and the symbolic center of all of Egypt—on the first of February, I experienced a new Egypt. On that day hundreds of thousands, some estimates say over a million, packed the square in a show of solidarity with fellow protesters and called for the regime of Mubarak to fall. Never before have I seen as diverse a representation of Egyptian society assembled in a single public space in Egypt as the crowd that gathered that day, demanding in unison their universal freedoms. Never before have I seen Egyptians of all walks of life—young and old, rich and poor, educated and illiterate, Muslim, Christian, atheist, members of the Muslim Brotherhood and gays and lesbians, veiled women and women in tank tops, Nubians and Alexandrians, and everyone else—they were all there. The atmosphere was peaceful, festive, and hopeful. There was no violence, no sexual harassment, no sectarian tensions, and no confrontations. This is the Egypt that I found inside the perimeter of Tahrir Square; it was a truly democratic Egypt inside of the still largely US- supported police state run by Mubarak’s regime. Creating this liberated space in the heart of Cairo was not easy. Just two weeks earlier, when protesters in Tunisia managed to dethrone their president and send him into exile, Egyptians were reluctant to discuss those events freely. Egyptians have lived in a culture of fear for generations, where political discussions had limits or else one risked detention, police abuse, torture, or, at worst, disappearance. During his presidency, Mubarak created one of the world’s largest state security forces, equaling in size that of China. The regime cracked down on all opposition, including the longstanding Muslim Brotherhood. The corrupt security apparatus effectively did the dirty work for Mubarak’s ruling party, the National Democratic Party, and was largely in the service of the ruling elite rather than the people. The police, secret police, detention centers in the desert, riot police, secret service, and many other branches of this security apparatus are what Egyptians deal with on a daily basis. These forces are so notorious for their abuses that the mere presence of a large police truck sends fear into the hearts of passers by. The corrupt security service functions outside the rule of law, where abuses, many of which have been recorded by undercover cameras and mobile phone cameras, go unpunished. The regime established its legitimacy on the basis of keeping political Islam under control. Doing so, the regime demonized the Muslim Brotherhood, a political and social services movement established in 1. While demonizing the Brotherhood, the regime squashed or tightly controlled any other opposition groups and made the establishment of new ones merely impossible. Thus, any hopes for a truly democratic political process has been aborted. Mubarak’s regime also failed to achieve true economic and social reform. Education has sharply deteriorated to the extent that employers generally reject applicants who received their college educations from state- run institutions. Mubarak’s state also tightly controlled the cultural and intellectual spheres, transforming them into highly bureaucratic and closely monitored spheres. The press, television, and radio were also controlled directly not only by the state but specifically by the security apparatus. Under Mubarak, Egypt, the former breadbasket for the Mediterranean, has become the world’s largest importer of wheat. This was a direct result of ill informed agricultural policy that favored the businesses of importers over the livelihoods of farmers. Villages and farming communities deteriorated and many farmers migrated to cities or urbanized their farmland as a way to create new forms of livelihood for their families. It is important to note that these and many other failures on the part of the state allowed the well- established Muslim Brotherhood to fill the vacuum and provide the large poor population, both Muslim and Christian, with basic medical services, better education, and career development. The most visible economic reforms of Mubarak’s regime have been to his own benefit and to the benefit of his close circle. The public sector was privatized and the Mubarak family demanded a stake in almost every business venture in the country. Mubarak, the son of farmer, now has an estimated wealth of around $7. Egypt’s Coptic Christians have not faired well under Mubarak either. While the state promotes itself as one of coexistence, internally, Mubarak’s regime has benefited greatly from sectarianism. The majority of Egypt’s Copts are among the 4. The regime has also cracked down on building new churches and most recently clashed with Christians over building permits for a church in Giza. At the same time, it is widely accepted in Egypt that the regime has sponsored acts of terrorism against Christians as a way of controlling the Christian population, strengthening Coptic support for the regime by promoting itself as their protector from fundamental Islam. In recent months there was a shooting incident in which a police officer shot four Copts aboard a train. Most recently, the bombing of one of Alexandria’s largest churches on January 1 during midnight mass is suspected to have government origins. The unusual absence of security forces, usually present, from the church during that incident and the narrative of events produced by the state make it highly suspicious. The regime used the incident to highlight the need for its suffocating security and intelligence and the threat from “Palestinian” elements and fundamentalist Islam. By now most Egyptians have become accustomed to such dirty tricks, but since the regime has total control of the security and the legal systems, there is no way for independent investigations to take place. Egypt has been ruled since Mubarak’s presidency by emergency law, which gives the state the right to bypass Egypt’s constitution and to arrest any person regardless of whether or not they have committed a crime. This has been used extensively over the last 3. Egyptians who have been detained, disappeared, and tortured is unknown. Such a lack of accountability has produced some of the most brutal police officers. One particular incident in June 2. Khaled Saeed, a 2. Alexandria. Saeed’s case caught public attention because he was arrested by two detectives in an Internet caf. The police later said they suspected Saeed had a sizeable amount of hashish on his person. This was a fabrication. Quickly Saeed became a symbol of the on going police abuses tolerated and even promoted by the regime. Protests in the name of Saeed were held in Alexandria and in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, where security forces quickly arrested thirty protestors and escorted them to a secret location where they were beaten. An uprising was long coming in Egypt, but Egyptians couldn’t break the fear barrier created by the state. And then the Tunisian Revolution happened in January of 2. The night of the Tunisian President’s ouster, a group of Egyptians gathered outside the Tunisian embassy in Cairo and cheered, “Mubarak, you’re next.” The Facebook group “we are all Khaled Said” called for a protest on January 2. Police Day. Following a week of multiple self- immolation attempts, the January 2. Egypt’s attempt at a popular revolution. All sectors of Egyptian society were represented, and no religious, political, or social group could claim dominance of the protest. This was a true popular uprising against all that I have listed above, and there was no leader at the helm of this movement. The first day was largely peaceful until security forces resorted to water canons and tear gas to disperse the crowd at Tahrir Square. A series of smaller protests in the subsequent days turned violent and police used bullets. The state’s use of excessive violence inevitably angered many more Egyptians nationwide, who naturally called for mass protests following Friday prayers on January 2. The state braced itself and attempted to create a media blackout, cutting off mobile phone service nationwide and, in an unprecedented move, cutting internet service nationwide, the first such act in history. January 2. 8th marked a major rupture in Egyptian history: it is the day Egyptians truly broke the fear barrier created by Mubarak’s regime. Massive numbers turned out and poured into the streets in a peaceful march towards Tahrir Square. Security forces confronted protesters with excessive force and fired dizzying amounts of American- made expired tear gas. Again, the regime’s tactics backfired, as the protests grew larger and protesters were determined to break through the regime’s tear gas, rubber bullets, and even live ammunition, resulting in many injuries and some deaths. By 4: 0. 0 pm, security forces retreated and the tens of thousands of riot police and security forces disappeared from Cairo’s streets, followed by one of the most chaotic nights in recent history. Prisoners were released, 9. The following days saw attacks by men on camel and horseback on protesters in Tahrir Square. Immediately following Mubarak’s statement in the early hours of February 2, mobs of Mubarak supporters suddenly appeared on the streets and attacked and confronted anyone who was identified as pro- democracy or anti- regime. The regime and NDP businessmen who benefited from Mubarak’s policies orchestrated these events of violence and chaos. The regime was attempting to reinstate itself by proving to the world and to terrified Egyptians that they have only two choices: the regime as it is or total chaos.
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