Security is a top issue in Egypt’s presidential contest as the country faces challenges on both domestic and regional fronts.
At home, the security forces confront a low-level war of attrition by the Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters and a rising insurgency staged by radical local and foreign jihadis based in the Sinai peninsula but infiltrating Egypt “proper”.
Balked of its conquest via elections of parliament and presidency, the Brotherhood continues to demand the reinstatement of President Mohamed Morsi, a movement veteran ousted last summer by the military at the instigation of millions of Egyptians protesting his failure to deliver on their demands.
Two pro-Brotherhood demonstrators were slain and three injured yesterday in the town of Fayoum 100km southwest of Cairo during clashes with security forces, adding to the hundreds of deaths, both civilian and police, exacted by similar rallies staged across the country since Mr Morsi’s removal.
An improvised explosive device also went off in the Cairo district of Nasr City where the Brotherhood staged its month long sit-in to press for Mr Morsi’s resumption of office.
Most Egyptians now deeply resent such incidents and reject the return by the Brotherhood which is blamed for the political insecurity gripping the country and for constant unrest.
Banned demonstrations However, the law banning unauthorised demonstrations, adopted last November by the post-Morsi government, has also provoked the Brotherhood and stoked tensions with secular activists seeking to express their dissatisfaction with the “counter- revolutionary” direction Egypt has been taking.
The situation has become all the more dangerous because of the influx from unstable Libya into Egypt of weapons of war.
Before the Libyan conflict, Egyptians had hunting weapons but not assault rifles and grenades, except for communities in Upper Egypt where blood feuds are a way of life and such weapons offer both protection and deterrence.
The spill-over of weapons from Libya, which is awash with arms following the 2011 rebellion, has been accompanied by an infiltration by radical jihadi fighters from Libya and elsewhere.
Egyptians who have fought in Syria have also returned to join groups based in Sinai where the law has not been imposed for many years. The struggle against the jihadis costs the life of at least one army officer or conscript soldier a day.
On Thursday, Shady El-Mene’i, a leader of the main jihadi group, Ansar Beit Al- Maqdis, was killed in clashes in central Sinai. This group was designated a terrorist group last August.
The army's candidate, former field marshal Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is seen as the figure who can deal with the security situation as well as take decisions on the economy that could raise the living standards of the people, 40 per cent of whom live below the poverty line.
The new president will also have to contend with the lack of law and order, the absence of the police, and rising crime. Analyst Youssef Zaki pointed out that the police, who were withdrawn from the streets during the last days of the ousted Mubarak regime in 2011, focus on protecting the government rather than the people.
Consequently, individuals have to resort to taking action against malefactors rather than lodging complaints with the police and turning to the courts for justice.
Surrounded by turmoil Located on the corner of the Middle East and North Africa, Egypt faces gathering destabilising forces on all of its borders.
To the west, Libya is in turmoil and facing a coup by a renegade general. In the run-up to polling on Monday and Tuesday, Cairo closed its long border with Libya. To the south loom unstable Sudan and conflicted South Sudan, to the east war-torn Somalia and to the north, Israeli-controlled and blockaded Gaza, ruled by Hamas, an offshoot of the Egyptian Brotherhood.
In addition to these physical challenges to the country’s security, Egypt’s new president will have to deal with what Napoleon called the “spiritual” challenges generals face. In par- ticular, there is a general loss of faith in Egypt’s ability to confront and resolve its many problems.
The 2011 uprising, to a large extent, countered deep psychological insecurities inflicted on the populace by decades of deprivation, repression, and loss of dignity. Egyptians gained a sense of self, purpose and pride from their protest movement which engendered great expectations which have not been met.
Egyptians now express deep disappointment over the failure of the country to achieve democracy over the past three years.
Dashed expectations have already driven some into the arms of the Brotherhood and the jihadis. Liberals and leftists could also take up weapons if the emerging regime does not meet the demands of the 2011 revolutionaries for “bread, freedom and social justice”. THE CANDIDATES Hamdeen Sabahi Hamdeen Sabahi is the candidate without whom there would be no Egyptian presidential election.
Born in July 1954 in the Nile Delta to a peasant family three months after his hero Gamal Abdel Nasser assumed the presidency, Sabahi worked in his youth as a fisherman.
In 1975 he entered Cairo University to study mass communications, form the Nasserist Thought Club and mount demonstrations against the policies of Nasser’s successor Anwar Sadat, including Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel.
In January 2011 Sabahi took part in the uprising that toppled president Hosni Mubarak
He is leader of the Egyptian Popular Current and was co-chairman of the now defunct National Salvation Front. A veteran opposition figure who has been arrested on 17 occasions and jailed eight times, he is campaigning under the slogan “one of us”, meaning the Egyptian people, and proposes socialist solutions to Egypt’s critical economic situation.
During his campaign, which he has conducted vigorously, he has focused on creating a democratic system, granting personal, political party and media freedom, and preserving the right to strike. He has pledged to transform Egypt into a state-capitalist system where the public and private sectors co-operate. He contends that Egyptians should have decent “housing, health care, food, education, insurance, fair wages and a clean environment”.
He enjoys the support of the centrist Constitution Party, some Nasserite factions, and the socialists. His rallies have been attacked by supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood who see secular Sabahi as a greater enemy than the military. Abdel Fattah El-Sisi Due to security concerns Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has not publicly campaigned for Egypt’s presidency but has met community leaders, businessmen, entertainers and intellectuals in closed gatherings. His supporters have staged rallies without his presence.
Born in 1954 in the Cairo bazaar not far from the 1,000-year old Azhar mosque, Sisi was raised in a devout prosperous household. His father was a skilled artisan who made inlaid furniture in his own shop. Several relatives were members of the Muslim Brotherhood, although Sisi never joined the movement.
He attended the military academy where he became a tank officer, graduating in 1977 and launching a career of steady promotion punctuated by staff courses in Egypt, Britain and the US, where he wrote a paper on the prospects of democracy in the region.
During the presidency of Hosni Mubarak, Sisi was appointed chief of military intelligence while during the year-long rule of president Mohamed Morsi, a Brotherhood stalwart, Sisi was elevated to the post of army chief and defence minister.
Following protests against Morsi last June, Sisi ordered Morsi’s guards to detain him until he was brought to court charged with incitement, murder and fraud. Pressed by the army command to stand for the presidency, Sisi resigned the rank of field marshal.
He has not issued a manifesto but has made a number of vague statements about what he plans to do if elected, including providing housing and jobs, and promoting the welfare of the poor, who account for 40 per cent of Egyptians.
Sisi enjoys the support of a wide range of parties plus the army and the establishment. He has attracted the right-wing Wafd, Egypt’s oldest party, and remnants of the ousted regime, Nasserists and socialists.
New parties backing Sisi include the liberal Free Egyptians Party, the ultra-orthodox Salafi Nour Party, the Conference Party, led by former foreign minister Amr Moussa, and the Tamarod movement that mounted the protests that toppled Morsi.
