Friday, December 9, 2011

Egypt update: government resigned, new cabinet sworn in

Egypt's first interim cabinet, led by Essam Sharif, did indeed resign on November 21 in response to a new wave of protests taking place in Egypt just before the first round of parliamentary elections. The Freedom and Justice Party, which represents the Muslim Brotherhood, won the largest share of votes in the first round of parliamentary elections. However, like Ennahdha in Tunisia, the Muslim Brotherhood did not win enough seats to completely dominate the parliament. It will have to compromise to pass any laws or revisions to the constitution. Its potential allies are unknown, but will be decided after the second and third round of elections set for December 14 and January 3, respectively.

The SCAF replaced Essam Sharif with Kamal al-Ganzouri, who has been appointing a new cabinet over the course of the past few weeks. However, he is reappointing some of the ministers of the previous cabinet, such as foreign minister Mohammed Kamel Amr, and even keeping two ministers who served under Mubarak, which again brings up the question of whether or not this is real change or just for show. Ganzouri has presidential powers but does not control the military or judiciary.

In terms of transfer of power, the military did concede to protestors' demands and has agreed to transfer power to a civilian government after presidential elections in June 2012, much earlier than they originally planned. However, June is a long ways away, and it is very likely that protestors will continue to take to the streets periodically before then to keep the military honest.

See article for details.

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