http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/image...lap203body.jpg
Voters in Egypt use ladders to reach polling stations cordoned off by riot police.

Full story here.

I'm confused. It seems to me the Beeb can't get it's story together, or explain what's going on very well. Of course, I don't know the politics of the parties, so a little explaination would have been good. But it seemed like one minute the Islamists were reported as gaining significant seats, but in another the democratic side had a "watershed."

From what it looks like to me as an outsider, it would be a tragedy in the region to see Islamists get very much power.

Ah yes, it is slightly confusing.

Basically the Muslim Brotherhood have been banned as a political party. So they stand technically independent candidates in lieu and have made real gains in this election despite massive government fraud and prevention of voting.

It's further confused by the fact that the Egyptian elections take place in many rounds with only a certain number of seats decided in this one (and many reserved outright for the ruling National Democratic Party - which is of course not Democratic at all) - that's why the MB appear to do so badly despite winning the majority of the seats in this round.

Historically a gain like this is a huge step for the opposition movement in Egypt and represents a real upswelling of popular emotion against the dictatorship of Mubarak and his cronies, especially when you set it against the background of 18 years of rule by emergency powers.

I quite agree of course - the Muslim Brotherhood gaining power would be a terrifying prospect, but it is a democratic process happening before our eyes - it's not often you get to see power by the people expressed so clearly in the face of brutal repression. Another nice demonstration by Arabs and Muslims that they too can want democracy and to participate in it actively.

Of course, that's why Bush's entire Middle-East strategy always seemed a touch bizarre to me - democracy in the Middle-East was never going to produce governments that were naturally sympathetic towards us. Ah well, ours not to reason why [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 12-02-2005, 08:51 PM: Message edited by: shamrock_uk ]

You're damn right it's confusing....from where i stand i see a group of potential windowwashers, desperately looking for a surface made of glass, without the support of proper ladders.

They are not going home with a well filled pocket at the end of the day if they keep this up. Tsk tsk

[img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img] By the way johnny, are you back in good health now?

Yeah, kinda, there's always room for improvement though. :D

Another pic from that day:

The "Uknown Rebel" of Egypt?