LIFE OF ITS OWN:

Mubarak may be scheming but the taboos are falling (Issandr El Amrani, April 02, 2005, Daily Star)

Mubarak's announcement has allowed his regime to seize the initiative on reform, albeit temporarily. As Galal Duweidar, editor of state-owned leading daily Al-Akhbar wrote on the day after the announcement: "[T]he ball is now in the Egyptian people's court."

Egyptians appear to be rising to the challenge eagerly. There are already calls for constitutional amendments and other changes well beyond allowing direct election of the president. For instance, while Mubarak's proposal requires any candidate to have the support of a certain (still undecided) number of members of Parliament and local councils, the Wafd has proposed that a candidate should only need to garner signatures from 70,000 citizens, or about 1 percent of the country's population. There are also increasing calls to restore the two-term limit for presidents (removed by Sadat in 1980) as well as to redistribute certain powers from the executive to the legislative and judicial branches. Above all, the lifting of the state of emergency in place since 1981 - which significantly limits civil and political liberties - still tops the demands of liberals, leftists and Islamists alike.

Despite attempts by the pro-regime media to spin Mubarak's proposal as a revolutionary step for which Egyptians should be grateful, political groups of all shades are seizing the moment to push for more meaningful reforms. The limited constitutional amendment envisioned so far - already under discussion in parliamentary committees and scheduled for legislative action in May - would not change the result of September's presidential election. Assuming that the 76-year old president's health holds out, he will be returned to office. But Mubarak's move is putting wind behind the sails of a wide-ranging public debate on constitutional reform and the role of the presidency, subjects considered taboo only a short time ago.

They always think they can control events even after they embrace the rhetoric.

Posted by Orrin Judd at April 2, 2005 10:43 PM