Saving Egypt from Mubarak

Cairo — THE NEWS from Egypt this week was more of the same: On Wednesday, the final, chaotic day of nationwide parliamentary elections, police shot rubber bullets and tear gas at crowds of voters around the country, blocking citizens from reaching polling stations. In areas known for opposition to President Hosni Mubarak, riot police clashed with angry voters. Eight people were killed on Wednesday alone.

The election had initially reignited hope that genuine democratic governance was possible after five decades of autocracy. It had come on the heels of the first contested presidential election since the monarchy was overthrown in 1952. But hope was dashed as Mubarak's heavy-handed regime made a travesty of the proceedings. The election was marred by widespread violations, fraud and the arrest and detention of hundreds of opposition supporters as it became clear over the last four weeks that Islamist candidates from the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood Party were likely to score a significant electoral victory.

The first person to reveal the fraud in the first round of the three-stage balloting was a brave female judge, Dr. Noha Al-Zainy, in an electoral district where a top aide to Mubarak was running as a candidate of the ruling National Democratic Party against a member of the Muslim Brotherhood (running, as they generally do, as an independent). The latter had been winning by more than 18,000 votes, but to Al-Zainy's surprise, the next morning the Election Commission declared the NDP's candidate the winner.

In the following five days, more than 150 other judges filed similar complaints. More than 50 suits have been filed to nullify election results in districts rife with irregularities, and more will surely follow.

The regime resisted allowing election monitoring by international observers, on the pretext that it infringed on the country's sovereignty. Then, when the election was held, members of the Muslim Brotherhood were often blocked from reaching the polls. A Dec. 2 front-page story in the International Herald Tribune documented several veiled women using ladders to climb over walls and fences and through windows to get into a polling station -- a telling portrait of Egypt's crippled steps toward democracy. Because of widespread intimidation, voter turnout was barely 20%, one of the lowest rates in Egyptian history.