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Even as the voting has starting in Egypt’s constitutional referendum, there are accusations of vote tampering already. With all of the concern, there is word that the Muslim Brotherhood is stuffing the ballots.

On Friday Egyptian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Amir Roshdy vigorously denied rumors that 200,000 ballots had been pre-printed in Kuwait to rig the vote there, the daily Al-Masry al-Youm reported. Roshdy also denied that people who were seen handing out flyers printed on the official letterhead of the Egyptian Embassy in Kuwait encouraging people to vote ‘yes’ were in any way actually connected with the Embassy, claiming they had merely used the letterhead.

Anti-Islamist and opposition leaders used the last day before the referendum to try and get their message out to vote ‘no.’

The opposition is right to be concerned, especially with so many accusations.

The months long battle over Egypt’s proposed post-Mubarak constitution will reach its climax the next two Saturday’s as millions of citizens head to their local polls and cast their ballots under the opposition’s threats of boycotts and judge’s refusals to monitor polling sites.

There is little to applaud of Egypt’s entire constitutional process thus far, as the opposition left the draft working to islamists after it was apparent their viewpoints were not going to be heard and Morsi essentially declared war on democracy when he decreed himself the right to legislate and not be challenged last month, which has resulted in a proposal unfriendly to individual liberties.

And then you add the violent street clashes between the Muslim Brotherhood and the opposition and we have a constitutional vote upcoming amid such intensity as few could have predicted when this entire process initiated with the fall of Hosni Mubarak in early 2011.

Sadly, the opposition likely has little chance of blocking ratification, as the Brotherhood’s strength and organization cannot be challenged by the secularists and liberals standing so strongly against this horrific proposal, that has likely seen the government break every pre-establish rule and law to pass at their terms on their timeline.

Should be interesting to see how the results effect Egypt’s shattered public discourse.

What say you?

The protests in Egypt appear to be growing with now 200,000 marching against Islamic Brotherhood dictator-lite Mohammed Morsi.

“The people want to bring down the regime!” and “erhal, erhal” — Arabic for “leave, leave” — rang out across the plaza, this time directed at Egypt’s first freely elected president.

What is even more troubling is the violence:

 Clashes broke out in several cities, with Morsi’s opponents attacking Brotherhood offices, setting fire to at least one. Protesters and Brotherhood members pelted each other with stones and firebombs in the Nile Delta city of Mahalla el-Kobra, leaving at least 100 people injured.

“Power has exposed the Brotherhood. We discovered their true face,” said Laila Salah, a housewife at the Tahrir protest who said she voted for Morsi in last summer’s presidential election. After Mubarak, she said, Egyptians would no longer accept being ruled by an autocrat.

Perhaps people in the West should have paid attention to the MB’s slogan: Islam is the Solution.

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Offices of the Muslim Brotherhood’s political wing have been burnt by protesters marching against Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi’s recent power grab. Morsi now claims to have almost total power– including that which shields him from the country’s supreme court.

An FJP official told AFP the party’s office was also stormed in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, where clashes broke out between rival demonstrators.

In Cairo, an array of liberal and secular groups, including activists at the forefront of the protest movement that forced veteran strongman Hosni Mubarak from power early last year, planned to march on Tahrir Square, Cairo’s iconic protest hub, to demonstrate against the “ new pharaoh” .

‘The New Pharaoh”

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The makeover of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi has begun. Some in the media are “debunking” the frightening “myths” about the Muslim Brotherhood, and others argue that he’s a potential ally. The Obama administration continues to infer that critics of the Brotherhood are simply alarmed by the word “Muslim” in the group’s name.

“We judge individuals and parties that are elected in a democratic process by their actions, not by their religious affiliations,” said White House Press Secretary Jay Carney when asked about the Muslim Brotherhood.

This is very similar language to that of William Taylor, the State Department’s Special Coordinator for the Office of Middle East Transitions. He oversees the spending of American taxpayer money in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya. He said, “What we need to do is judge people and parties and movements on what they do, not what they’re called.”

Click here to read the rest of my FPM article.

The week began with hundreds of photos and stories covering the historic first votes in Egypt’s 2011-12 parliamentary election with fanfare and pomp. And it’s understandable for Americans to do this – we are freedom loving people who love witnessing people elect their own leaders for the first time.

But the unofficial results are scary and sadly vindicating for some of us who warned about the Hosni Mubarak overthrow and the impending islamist upheaval.

Here’s the breakdown of results:

The bad news

The Muslim Brotherhood’s “Freedom and Justice” Party received 40% of the vote in the liberal cities of Alexandria and Cairo, meaning 3.2 million people (out of the 8+ million who voted in stage one) stood with the organization responsible for the assassination of Anwar al-Sadat and gave them super-minority status.

The really bad news

The salafist Al Nour Party, which wants Egypt’s constitution to strictly follow the tennants of Islam, received nearly 20% of the vote after only ten months of existance compared to the Brotherhood’s 80 year run. This party trailed in the polls with just 10% before votes were cast – they came out of really nowhere to finish second.

The really, really bad news

This was just stage one of Egypt’s parliamentary elections, and the other two are going to be held in the even more islamist countryside which will decide who represents the other 66% parliament. The islamists, at their current rate, could control well over 75% of Egypt’s government in just one month from now.

Although the official results from Egypt’s first round of voting will not be released until tomorrow, due to the large voter turnout earlier this week in Alexandria, and Cairo, government officials have said the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party have likely captured 45% of seats on the ballot.

I’m no expert on Egyptian politics by any means, but the first stage of voting was centered in big cities, while the next two will be in rural areas and small cities – and typically the latter is far more islamist in nature than the former, meaning the Muslim Brotherhood could, therotically, capture a pure majority in parliament.

Not good news.

I never really had hope the Arab Spring would result in either freedom or peace, especially in Egypt, but the unbelievably strong showing of the Muslim Brotherhood has even surprised me. I’m now sure that in a couple of years, people will look back at the massive protests and say “why didn’t we stop it, and protect our friend, Hosni Mubarak, from going to the way of the Shah?”

The first stage of Egypt’s complex electoral system kicked off earlier today in Alexandria and Cairo, as millions of Egyptians headed to the polls – many for the first time in their lives – in peace and shocking quiet. The only disturbances, as far as I can tell, was from anxious voters annoyed at the long wait.

Voting will continue through tomorrow and results will not be immediately available, but these results could indicate whether the Muslim Brotherhood (Freedom and Justice Party), or the liberals (Egyptian Bloc) will gain control when the military eventually leaves power, although most expect the islamists will perform well, perhaps to the point of gaining an absolute majority.

I am hoping to God we were all wrong about Egyptian politics and the liberals are able to gain control, but if the results out of Tunisia are any indicator – our one-time allies are likely to move away from us, and their peace treaty with Israel towards islamism and conflict.

We will see what happens, but for once the inhabitants along the Nile are selecting their own future.

Some distressing news to bring to our readers. In Egypt, campaigning on the actual election day is illegal. That’s not stopping the Muslim Brotherhood from campaigning anyway. The Brotherhood reportedly has an excellent get-out-the-vote effort, which may land it the most seats in Parliament:

A few more notes on the Muslim Brotherhood’s impressive election day get-out-the-vote campaign: Shadi Hamid, the research director at the Brookings Institution in Doha, tweets that an activist told him each Muslim Brotherhood member was encouraged to bring 100 people to the polls.

And it appears that the Islamist group is conducting illegal campaigning across the election zones:

The Muslim Brotherhood, by far Egypt’s best-organised political party, planned to have representatives at every polling station today, ostensibly to explain the (somewhat complicated!) voting process. Shadi Hamid, the research director at the Brookings Institution in Doha, also tweeted that they would help guarantee security.

But a number of people are complaining that the Brotherhood representatives are also campaigning, which is illegal on election day.

Mahmoud Salem, a candidate running in Heliopolis on the Free Egyptians ticket (and perhaps better known as the blogger Sandmonkey), tweeted that Brotherhood representatives are handing out political flyers; he reported them to an army officer at the polling station, who did nothing.

Great. Just great.

A gas pipeline from Egypt to the other parts of the Middle East has been hit with an explosion. The sabotage comes as Egyptians prepare to go to the polls today. This comes as the Muslim Brotherhood may do very well in these elections.

The explosion struck the pipeline west of al-Arish in Sinai, witnesses said. There was a second consecutive blast, about 100 meters away, sources said.

State news agency MENA said the explosion was in al-Sabeel area. Security forces and fire trucks raced to the scene.

Security sources said the explosions were detonated from a distance and that tracks from two vehicles were found in the area. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Egypt is promising tighter security, but the attack is a bad precedent.

The first round of elections in Egypt will happen on November 28, but the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces is sending a clear message that it has no intention of giving up power. The military regime wants to decide the future of the country and is clamping down on its opponents, both Islamist and non-Islamist.

The military council has revealed that it wants to have veto power over the draft constitution that the interim government will write. The council says that the constitutional committee chosen by parliament should only have 20 parliamentarians with the military choosing the other 80. The committee is fired if it fails to come up with an acceptable draft constitution within 6 months. It also wants the military budget to remain secret and without oversight. The political parties are furious but according to the Associated Press, “The proposal only requires adoption by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to make it binding.” In other words, their opinions don’t matter.

Click here to read the rest of my FPM article.

The Egyptian ruling military council wants 500 political party representatives to agree to let it basically run the transition process after the November 28 elections, such as by having veto power over the draft constitution and the ability to fire the elected assembly and pick its own. This is sweeping power that would amount to leaving the regime in power with a token elected parliament and a constitution that solidifies its grip.

The council also wants to be given the role of determining “constitutional legitimacy.” The proposal also calls for the military budget to remain secret and without civilian oversight.

“The proposal says 80 of the 100-member panel to be mandated to write the new constitution will not be members of parliament’s two chambers and will instead be drawn from a wide range of institutions, including the judiciary, universities and civil society groups. The rest will come from political groups represented in parliament’s two chambers,” the Washington Post reports.

There’s no way that the political parties will go for this but the Washington Post article on the development had this line: “The proposal only requires adoption by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to make it binding.”

We can all agree that it’d be better to having the ruling military regime in power in Egypt than the Islamists, and so far it doesn’t seem like the council is willing to genuinely transfer power out of its hands. It has revived the emergency laws, banned religious slogans in campaigns, and banned the secular liberal Ayman Nour from the presidential contest.

The military regime, just as Mubarak did before it, has banned Ayman Nour, a secularist, from participating in the presidential elections. Secular voices like that of Nour are precisely what is needed in Egypt to combat the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood. It is his beliefs that must be allowed to be aired if a successful democratic transition is to ever take place.

Of course, there is good reason to doubt that the military regime really plans on giving up power. The military council is threatened by both the secularists and the Islamists, and so it isn’t terribly surprising that Nour is being targeted, just as he was by the council’s former leader.

In 2005, an Egyptian court ruled that Nour was corrupt and guilty of forging the signatures used to justify the creation of his political party. Pretty much everyone agrees that it was politically-motivated, as it prevented him from running against Mubarak for the presidency.

The West may have an interest in an incremental transition to democracy that includes postponing elections so that the non-Islamists have time to organize, but it has no interest in having secular voices shut out. The military council needs to be put on notice and encouraged/pushed to let these voices be heard.

Five thousand years ago the Hebrew people left Egypt for their promised land in Canaan, or now modern day Israel. They endured almost four hundred years of bondage until they were delivered by Moses. Now we might be witnessing the beginning of a second exodus.

With the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak earlier this year, Coptic Christians, who received decent treatment under his regime, have been concerned about the growing Islamist influence of Egypt’s political society. It’s disconcerting to know thousands of Copts have already fled, but the outright murder of two dozen of them Sunday is absolutely infuriating.

The military is not protecting them; the state television blamed them for the out-of-control protests Sunday; the United States is more focused on elections than religious liberty, and the situation seems to be declining by the minute.

I fear the Copts, one of the last Christian communities in the Arab world, might have to flee to Ethiopia, or Europe, or even the United States within the near future, because Egypt continues to backslide towards an dark Islamist future where religion becomes the oppressor rather than the deliverer.

Pray for the Copts.