"Voters, particularly farmers, have to be meticulous about their choices of candidates in the two next phases so that balance may be restored to parliament by voting for the al-Thawrah Mustamirah (The Revolution Goes On) list, because it is the only bloc that can bring back this balance to parliament," said Jindī.
He said that the seats harvested by the Muslim Brotherhood in the first round rings an alarm bell that a threat is facing other powers, adding the results have dashed the hopes and ambitions of the young people and Copts.
For his part, Dr, Muhammad Ghunaym, an Egyptian scientist and founder of the kidneys center in al-Mansūrah University, appealed to all Egyptian people to unite over a clear-cut program of action to draft a modern Egyptian constitution that is in harmony with the nature of the current stage. [Hāzim Abū Dūmah, al-Ahrām, Dec. 12, p. 7] Read the original text in Arabic
Meanwhile, U.S. Senator John Kerry said he was ready to do whatever he can as soon he goes back to Washington to help accelerate sending economic assistance to Egypt.
Kerry, after a meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minister Muhammad Kāmil 'Amr, said that the Muslim Brotherhood would hopefully recognize the importance of Egypt, a country of one-quarter of the whole Arab population, and the international role it is playing.
On the other hand, the new advisory council has held its first session on December 11, 2011, electing Mansūr Hassan as chairman, Sāmih 'Āshūr, the Chairman of the Bar Association, and Abū al-'Ilā Mādī, the leader of the al-Wasat (Centrist) Party, as vice chairmen. [Mahmūd al-Nūbī, al-Ahrām, Dec. 12, p. 7] Read the original text in Arabic
The council, which met for the first time amidst objections by the political powers, discussed some controls as far as the formation of a constituent assembly to draft a new constitution was concerned.
The council is an advisory body that assists the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) during the transitional period pending the handover of power to an elected civil authority by July 1, 2012. [Author not mentioned, al-Ahrām, Dec. 12, p. 7] Read the original text in Arabic
The Maspero Youth Union (MYU) warned in a statement against the repetition of a scenario of feigning a conflict between SCAF and the Islamist powers over the date set for parliamentary elections so as to draw all political parties into the election battle and make it easy for the well-prepared Islamist current.
"The theme of conflicts at present has been settled already. Egypt is a presidential republic where the majority of parliament would not form a government but on the other hand the constituent assembly on draft the constitution must be representative of all groups within the society," the MYU said in the statement. ['Abīr al-Mursī, al-Ahrām, Dec. 12, p. 7] Read the original text in Arabic
In an opinion piece on page 10 of al-Ahrām, author Sa'īd al-Lāwindī said it is the West that is scared from Islamist groups and makes a scarecrow out of them.
It was the West that coined the term Islamophobia and always thinks that any Muslim on this planet is an Usāmah Bin Lādin and that the Islamic communities in the European Union (EU) countries – amounting to about 26 communities – have nothing to do day and night but to work on the Islamization of Europe.
We have to trust the ballot boxes and bless their results whatever they were and welcome Islamists if they won or welcome the Copts and liberals if they did.
In the midst of our satisfaction over the elections, let us not forget that we are following a presidential, not a parliamentary, system, which means that whatever the religious affiliation of the winner is, it will not form a government as the one person who will be doing this is the president that will be elected by the Egyptian people; so let's not be haunted by fear from the Islamists. [Dr. Sa'īd al-Lawindī, al-Ahrām, Dec. 12, p. 10] Read the original text in Arabic
