• Research
  • Emissary
  • About
  • Experts
Carnegie Global logoCarnegie lettermark logo
Democracy
  • Donate
{
  "authors": [
    "Amr Hamzawy"
  ],
  "type": "other",
  "centerAffiliationAll": "dc",
  "centers": [
    "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace"
  ],
  "collections": [],
  "englishNewsletterAll": "",
  "nonEnglishNewsletterAll": "",
  "primaryCenter": "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace",
  "programAffiliation": "DCG",
  "programs": [
    "Democracy, Conflict, and Governance",
    "Middle East"
  ],
  "projects": [],
  "regions": [
    "Middle East",
    "Egypt"
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Political Reform",
    "Democracy"
  ]
}
REQUIRED IMAGE

REQUIRED IMAGE

Other

Opposition in Egypt: Performance in the Presidential Election and Prospects for the Parliamentary Elections

In Egypt’s first-ever multicandidate presidential election on September 7, opponents to President Mubarak’s regime performed poorly, and Mubarak swept the election with 88.6 percent of the vote to secure his fifth presidential term. But is this landslide victory a mandate for the ruling party’s power and policies?

Link Copied
By Amr Hamzawy
Published on Oct 20, 2005
Program mobile hero image

Program

Democracy, Conflict, and Governance

The Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program is a leading source of independent policy research, writing, and outreach on global democracy, conflict, and governance. It analyzes and seeks to improve international efforts to reduce democratic backsliding, mitigate conflict and violence, overcome political polarization, promote gender equality, and advance pro-democratic uses of new technologies.

Learn More
Program mobile hero image

Program

Middle East

The Middle East Program in Washington combines in-depth regional knowledge with incisive comparative analysis to provide deeply informed recommendations. With expertise in the Gulf, North Africa, Iran, and Israel/Palestine, we examine crosscutting themes of political, economic, and social change in both English and Arabic.

Learn More

Source: Carnegie Endowment

In Egypt’s first-ever multicandidate presidential election on September 7, opponents to President Mubarak’s regime performed poorly, and Mubarak swept the election with 88.6 percent of the vote to secure his fifth presidential term. But is this landslide victory a mandate for the ruling party’s power and policies? Or does the election outcome merely signify Egyptian opposition’s current marginality, which must be overcome to bolster democratic reforms?

In this new Policy Outlook, Carnegie Senior Associate Amr Hamzawy provides analyses of the opposition’s strategies and performance in the presidential election. He argues that the National Democratic Party’s continued entrenchment in state institutions and the ongoing partial repression of political activity are major factors in the weakness of the opposition. In addition, Hamzawy states that the opposition forces’ own internal weaknesses and miscalculations have also contributed to their problematic situation. Without well-defined platforms, Egypt’s opposition will lose credibility and remain unable to mobilize broad constituencies for political reform.

Click on the link above for the full text of this Policy Outlook.

About the Author
Amr Hamzawy is a senior associate in the Democracy and Rule of Law Project at the Carnegie Endowment.

Amr Hamzawy
Director, Middle East Program
Amr Hamzawy
Political ReformDemocracyMiddle EastEgypt

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

More Work from Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

  • Commentary
    Carnegie Politika
    In Uzbekistan, the President’s Daughter Is Now His Second-in-Command

    Having failed to build a team that he can fully trust or establish strong state institutions, Mirziyoyev has become reliant on his family.

      Galiya Ibragimova

  • Commentary
    Strategic Europe
    Europolis, Where Europe Ends

    A prophetic Romanian novel about a town at the mouth of the Danube carries a warning: Europe decays when it stops looking outward. In a world of increasing insularity, the EU should heed its warning.

      Thomas de Waal

  • Commentary
    Carnegie Politika
    Japan’s “Militarist Turn” and What It Means for Russia

    For a real example of political forces engaged in the militarization of society, the Russian leadership might consider looking closer to home.

      James D.J. Brown

  • Aerial shot of protesters marching down a street
    Commentary
    Emissary
    Federal Accountability and the Power of the States in a Changing America

    What happens next can lessen the damage or compound it.

      Mariano-Florentino (Tino) Cuéllar

  • Stack of Iranian newspapers featuring Trump's face and a burning American flag
    Commentary
    Emissary
    The United States Should Apply the Arab Spring’s Lessons to Its Iran Response

    The uprisings showed that foreign military intervention rarely produced democratic breakthroughs.

      • Sarah Yerkes

      Amr Hamzawy, Sarah Yerkes

Get more news and analysis from
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Carnegie global logo, stacked
1779 Massachusetts Avenue NWWashington, DC, 20036-2103Phone: 202 483 7600Fax: 202 483 1840
  • Research
  • Emissary
  • About
  • Experts
  • Donate
  • Programs
  • Events
  • Blogs
  • Podcasts
  • Contact
  • Annual Reports
  • Careers
  • Privacy
  • For Media
  • Government Resources
Get more news and analysis from
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
© 2026 Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. All rights reserved.