Unfair Elections and Free Dictatorship, Are Iraq and Lebanon Exceptions?………………
“Egypt's president Hosni Mubarak has been in office for 28 years. With a 2011 election looming, many say his son Gamal is being groomed for an uncontested handover despite his unpopularity. If elected, Gamal Mubarak, who worked as an investment banker in London, would be the first president of Egypt without a military background. He looks to succeed his father, Hosni Mubarak…. Egypt's elections are neither free nor fair, and experts agree that just as in ancient Egypt, a dynastic transition is likely. This year, not 2011, will effectively be when Egypt's next president is decided, because any contender would have to start soon to have chance……...”
“Egypt's elections are neither free nor fair……” That is the understatement: it is almost like saying that in Germany after 1933, elections were neither free nor fair.
It must be something in the water or maybe the genes: every Arab leader, whether king or president, wants his son to take over after him, to continue the punishment of the hapless people. Soon the whole region from the Atlas Mountains to the shores of the Persian-American Gulf will revert to the way it was before the Ottoman conquest: a long chain of family dynasties that have their talons deep into their nations vitals. Perhaps only Lebanon and Iraq, ironically what Arab oligarchs call ‘sectarian’ societies, will remain without controlling dynasties. It is too soon for Iraq. But Lebanon has several little hereditary dynasties that control parts of it, with the exception of the Shi’a areas. No family heirs for Nasrallah or Berri: they probably would not last if they tried.
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mhg
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