'Last Pharaoh' on his knees

2005-09-06 09:56

Cairo - Hosni Mubarak should still be Egypt's president after September 7 but "the last Pharaoh" is not quite what he used to be after three weeks of a campaign that started chipping away at his sacred pedestal.

Only a few months ago, an unfortunate word on the "rais" - the boss - or the slightest hint of dissidence over the regime's policies was a one-way ticket to jail.

But opposition leaders, activists, editorialists, cartoonists and even ordinary Egyptians on the street have sharpened their pencils and tongues and pierced the aura of untouchability surrounding the "father of the nation".

"Will you please spare us the sight of your face," wrote columnist Ibrahim Abdel Fattah in the independent Al-Dustour newspaper. "We want to know how it feels to see a new face because we have been looking at yours for 24 years," he said.

Unprecedented election coverage

Mubarak is widely expected to win a fifth six-year term in the September 7 presidential election but Egypt's 32 million voters will for the first time have a choice of another nine candidates.

While state-owned newspapers continued to dutifully offer fawning first-page coverage of Mubarak's election campaign, the tone used in independent publications is unprecedented.

Dissidents attempted criticism of the regime or of specific policies in the past but rarely had anyone dared to publicly ridicule Mubarak and "the royal family".

In recent weeks, independent newspapers have been rife with sarcastic comments about his wife Suzanne Mubarak's "$200 hairdos" and corruption allegations against the rais's son Gamal, whom many believe is being groomed for succession.

"This is not the country we used to know, this election is a circus, a cheap B movie," editorialist Mohammed Hassan al-Alfy said in the independent Nahdet Masr newspaper.

Independent publications have also relayed the concerns of civil society organisations over the transparency of the election.

Emboldened Egyptians

Nabil Abdel Fattah, a political scientist at the Al-Ahram research centre, voiced his surprise at the atmosphere of the campaign.

"We experienced an exceptional moment in Egypt: people were able to directly attack the pharaoh like never before," he said.

Mubarak's most defiant campaign rival, Ghad party leader Ayman Nur, has unleashed a torrent of accusations against the president and his cronies. Even the more docile Wafd chairperson Numan Gumaa risked a few jibes.

"The significance of this election lies not in the possibility of unseating President Mubarak but in the fact that for the first time many Egyptians are boldly challenging his rule," the New York-based advocacy group Human Rights Watch said in a report.

- AFP