Elections in the Midst of Revolution
►http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/3304/elections-in-the-midst-of-revolution
The realities at hand seem to indicate that participating in these elections do come at a hefty cost, namely lending legitimacy to a political reality and a constitutional framework that give the SCAF undue power in managing this transition and defining its scope. Elections in this context will also make it difficult to overturn or reconfigure the constitutional framework governing this transition. They will create a community of elected representatives who are personally vested in the same framework that mass demonstrations have sought to overturn in recent days through its demands to form a civilian-led body that could take the lead in managing the rest of the transitional period. On a broader level, these elections are an integral element of the SCAF’s “mission accomplished” narrative, which posits that protest movements must demobilize and show deference to the “elders” among elite politicians, elected representatives and constitution-writers. The elections, in other words, pose more challenges to the battle for transformative change in Egypt than meets the eye.