Egypt Revolution 2.0

After the “successful” Arab Spring uprising in Egypt early last year, the people of Egypt are prepping themselves for a second round. If the former was against a ruler that reigned for about three decades, this time around, it is meant for the newly elected leader. Whilst international news providers are highlighting that Syria is the only country suffering from the Arab Spring contagion to date, Egypt is once again propelling itself to global attention. Getting confused, already???

            When Arab Spring revolution initiated in Tunisia about two years ago, it spread like a wild blaze to the neighbouring nations, namely the Middle East region within weeks, if not days. In Egypt, the majority of the nationals stood up and expressed their opposition against the rule of the once-prominent Hosni Mubarak. And within weeks, Mubarak was ousted and election was held. Even the election was full of problems. Finally, after the ballot papers were counted, Mubarak’s successor was named. He is Muhammad Morsi. That is certainly a new, novel chapter for the Egyptians as it marked a leadership from the Muslim Brotherhood, the once-shunned political establishment.

            While many celebrated with joy and bliss, quite a number remained sceptic of Morsi’s rule in the upcoming future. Even United States of America had its share of disbelief in the Morsi rule. Prior to the election, USA has enjoyed great attention in Egypt thanks to Hosni Mubarak. Well, that was also a reason why Mubarak was hated in his own nation. The influence of America in Egypt helped the former a lot , particularly in terms of diplomatic relations in Mid East. But, since Morsi is an Islamist leader, such attention may be made available any longer.

From day one until this very moment, the Morsi administration had been a tumultuous one. One controversy after the another. This man tried his best to administer Egypt in its best form. Taking Turkey as an epitome of successful Islamic rule, he with his comrades strived ahead.He faced problems with many parties, within his own country. First, a huge number of Egyptians disapproved his election as they claimed there were irregularities in the electoral system. Not only that, Morsi faced a stand-off with the military regime which aided in the oust of Mubarak. 

            Yet, apart from that, Morsi received international plaudits when he successfully mediated a cease-fire truce between Palestine and Israel in the recent dispute. He portrayed his calibre in handling the spat between the two arch-nemesis, albeit the fact that the truce did not last long enough.

            However, now Muhammad Morsi faces another problem. He made it public that he intends to have the judiciary branch of Egypt under his control for a specific period of time. He, himself had outline certain conditions that he would comply with if he had the judiciary branch within his jurisdiction. But, this insinuation of Morsi was met with objections from the judges and lawyers of Egypt. Their disapproval was bolstered with the disagreement of the liberal and Christian groups as well as the opposition backbenchers.

            As people have started to go to the streets to protest, Morsi offered a referendum of two phases. The people will get to vote for a new constitution. Surprisingly, the first phase showed victory to Morsi’s administration even though with a slim yet significant margin. The second phase is done with but, the official results are yet to be announced. However, the Government’s affiliates claimed that the victory is once again on their side. If this is true, we will see an Egypt rule plunged into dictatorship. If a leader has authority over executive, legislative and judiciary branches of a state, he is ostensibly, going to rule with iron-clad.

            Anyhow, whilst many parties are crying out loud claiming fraud and irregularities in the referendum, Egyptians have been given a chance to vote. In the end,  it is them who must decide the future of their country. Let’s just wait and watch!