If everything seems already decided, there is a question mark over the participation rate: “It is indeed an interesting indicator and a challenge to those in power. But these numbers may not be real numbers. Because Egypt no longer has a free press. There is no independent human rights NGO with real access to follow up on the vote. Because the election was neither credible nor legitimate, there was no international monitoring” notes NGO member Leslie Bigmal Care Institute for Human Rights Studies. The official participation rate was 41% in 2018, down from 47% in 2014.
There is no longer any opposition in Egypt
According to her, theHe said the public sphere had become completely vampiric, and the independence of the judiciary was no longer a reality: “The latter was kept completely under control. Also, in the last two assembly elections, there was pre-emptive maneuvering in the formation of lists to prevent the formation of a real opposition party in the parliament. Public space is completely closed. Under a strong security crackdown, the authorities have severely restricted freedom of assembly, freedom of expression, freedom of the press and freedom of association. When you don’t have this freedom, you can’t campaign. When everything is under constant control, one cannot effectively address the public, regardless of the communication channel“.
Only three candidates managed to challenge the incumbent president in the 2023 election. In this case, theIndependent NGO Egyptian Front for Human Rights It has been able to document procedural violations preventing the vetting of candidacies of figures from civil society.
His daily pastime is to destroy protest centers
In 10 years, the weight of the military has significantly strengthened, and the legislative reforms carried out by al-Sisi also play an important role in his authoritarian strategy: “There is the Anti-Terrorism and Extremism Act introduced by al-Sisi. As a result, the morality police can arrest and prosecute any person who poses a threat to national security without defining precisely what this entails. or block any content deemed problematic. A major newspaper was closed after 6 months of circulation Fake News”, adds Suzanne Jibril, researcher at Cevipol (Centre for the Study of Political Life) and ULB’s OMAM (Observatory of the Arab and Muslim Worlds).
“Total coffee junkie. Tv ninja. Unapologetic problem solver. Beer expert.”