Parliamentary elections in Egypt: What elections... what parliament... and which Egypt?

In: Amsterdam Middle East Papers, Vol. 1, No. 3

Abstract

Egypt was at the beginning of the 1980s one of the few countries in the Middle East which seemed to have embarked on the road to democracy. When President Mubarak came to power after the assassination of Anwar Sadat, he promised to expand the scope for opposition and press freedom. Almost fifteen years later and three parliamentary elections wiser the future looks a lot less promising. While democratization has run up against a wall of governmental obstruction, and the development of civil society is hamstrung by restrictive laws, press freedom has become largely inconsequential. Against the background of the parliamentary elections of November 1995 Ahmed Abdalla has written a perceptive analysis of the prospects of democracy in Egypt. The editors have added an appendix with more specific information on the coming elections. (Amsterdam Middle East Pap/DÜI)