Source: CNN International's "Inside Africa
SESAY: For more on what's taking place in Egypt, I spoke earlier with Amr Hamzawy, a noted Egyptian political scientist and senior associate with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
AMR HAMZAWY, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR PEACE: It's unfortunately a step backwards at three levels. The constitutional amendments are designed to block the Muslim Brotherhood, which is the powerful opposition group in Egypt. They're designed to give the president and the executive branch of government authorities to limit political activities which can be described as based on a religious frame of reference, but they're also designed to lessen the judicial supervision of elections, which secure the degree of transparency in Egyptian parliamentary and presidential elections in the last year. So overall, it's definitely a step backwards.
SESAY: However, there are those that say that these amendments do increase the power of parliament.
HAMZAWY: It's not true. This is - this is a half-reality at best. They do give the parliament more authorities in discussing the budget, in voting on - on the prime minister and his policies, withdrawing confidence from - from the prime minister, but these amendments also give the president for the first time the right to dissolve the parliament without going back to the Egyptian voters in a referendum. So it's quite a mixed picture. They do give parliament a few more authorities, but they put the president in such a powerful place that he can basically control the government.
SESAY: But in a time when it's about people making their voices heard, and the project of democracy in Egypt, was it not the wrong move for the Muslim Brotherhood to boycott the vote?
HAMZAWY: It's - it's - it was a tough choice. It was a tough choice for the Brotherhood and for other opposition activists as well, because in semi-authoritarian or authoritarian regimes, they're always faced with a decision between participating in an election or referendum where you already know the outcome before going to the polling stations, and in a way it will be putting and giving legitimacy to an undemocratic step. And boycotting it and risking your influence and your impact on the larger political scene.
I guess this time, they were not wrong in boycotting the elections, because they were not consulted. The suggestions which they put forward, be it the Muslim Brotherhood or other legal opposition parties, were ignored by the National Democratic Party, the ruling National Democratic Party. So, boycotting the referendum was in a way, an attempt to de- legitimize the step.
The government has been backsliding on democratic reforms since the end of 2005, and effectively so in the last few months by repressing the Brotherhood, transferring many of its leaders, organizational leaders and the economic backbone of the movement to military tribunals, and now cracking down on the pace (ph) of freedom by these constitution amendments.
SESAY: What will it take to bring change, to bring a real open, pluralist democracy to Egypt?
HAMZAWY: It - I - It will take on the one side a change of heart and the change of strategies with regard to the ruling establishment. And Egypt is a place which is easily governed by state authorities, by the president, and by the executive branch of government.
Egypt has been - has been (inaudible) state with a very strong executive authority, so there is no way to democratize this place without getting the ruling establishment to commit, to commit to real significant democratic reforms.
And on the other side, opposition parties and movements, the Brotherhood and legal parties ought to consider how they can cooperate to press on the government to democratize. The government has been so far very successful in dividing them up and giving these (inaudible), while repressing other movements, and this will lead them in general nowhere.
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