Iraq's President Sees Iraqi Society "United" Talabani calls on Iraqi voters to judge the constitution By David Shelby Washington File Staff Writer Washington – Iraqi President Jalal Talabani says the vocal disagreement between different ethnic and religious communities in Iraq should not be interpreted as a sign of civil discord but, rather, an indication of a healthy political environment. “There is no civil war in Iraq, and Iraqi society is united,” Talabani told a group of journalists in Washington September 9. “But because we have a democratic climate … there are dialogues, there are discussions, there are sometimes different ideas, views. But in the end, you see Iraqi society united.” He said the democratic process is helping forge a stronger sense of national unity in Iraq. “As history proved, multination governments and states can only survive when there will be democracy and federation and equality,” he said. Speaking about reservations in some parts of the Sun
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Bush Congratulates Egyptian President, People on Election Secretary Rice urges President Mubarak to follow through on campaign pledges President Bush offered his congratulations to the Egyptian people and government for that nation’s first multicandidate presidential elections held on September 7. In a statement from Scott McClellan, presidential press secretary, the White House said September 10 that the election "represents an important step toward holding fully free and fair competitive multiparty elections." Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in a separate statement released September 10, said the September 7 vote "was characterized by freer debate, increased transparency and improved access to the media, in contrast with previous polls." Rice also said the practice of universal suffrage in the election, without limitations on gender and ethnicity, "is a hopeful sign for the region." The statements by both the secretary and the White House urged the
Mubarak Wins Easily, but Vote Fails to Engage Egypt By Daniel Williams Washington Post Foreign Service Saturday, September 10, 2005 CAIRO, Sept. 9 -- In the end, Egypt's first multiple-choice presidential vote produced a result that resembled the one-candidate elections of the past. President Hosni Mubarak, the cautious former air force pilot who has ruled for 24 years, won another six-year term with about 88.6 percent of the vote, according to official figures released Friday night. The raucous three-week campaign leading up to Wednesday's election also made little dent in the traditional apathy of the Egyptian public. A 23 percent turnout fell far below government predictions made on election day -- all the more striking given the major effort made by Mubarak's National Democratic Party to get out the vote. Second place went to Ayman Nour, the maverick free-market-oriented lawyer whose Tomorrow Party was legalized only a year ago. He won 540,405 votes, or about 7.3 percen
... and American Paralysis By Robert Kagan Washington Post , August 29, 2005 Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice gave a big speech in Cairo in June in which she set down some criteria by which to judge the fairness and openness of the upcoming elections in Egypt. The speech seemed to augur a tough approach by the administration, a determination to press hard for real reforms in the Egyptian political system. That would be in keeping with President Bush's repeated declaration of his support for democracy worldwide, and especially in the Middle East. Rice's speech gave reasons for hoping that something really had changed and that it was not all rhetoric. After all, it would have been easy enough for her to make some vague call for democracy and leave it at that. But, surprisingly, she got down to specifics. President Hosni Mubarak had "unlocked the door for change," she said, but now he had to put his faith in his own people and give Egyptians "the freedom to choos
Preliminary Report on Election Day Voting and Counting Process INDEPENDENT COMMITTEE FOR ELECTION MONITORING Preliminary Report on Election Day Voting and Counting Process Thursday, September 8, 2005 2PM Introduction Free, fair and transparent elections are the basis for any meaningful democracy. The Independent Committee for Election Monitoring (ICEM) recruited, trained and deployed a total of 2,200 observers to observe the voting process with the aim of providing the integrity and credibility of the election process. ICEM is a coalition of 12 Egyptian NGOs, coming together to monitor Egypt’s elections. In general, ICEM is pleased with the relative absence of violence during the voting process, and welcomes and highly appreciates the cooperation offered by state security services throughout the day to ensure the safety and security of election monitors. ICEM also realizes the value of Egypt’s first competitive Presidential election. ICEM also welcomes and praises the Presidential Ele
Mubarak has forgotten a word: 'Torture' By Hossam Bahgat THE DAILY STAR Tuesday, September 06, 2005 Whatever you think of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's policies for the past 24 years, there is certainly something fresh about his re-election campaign this time around, as Egyptians prepare to go to the polls on Wednesday. The new team of young men and women who are running the 76-year-old Mubarak's campaign seem to be working as hard as they can to forge a new image and a different discourse that, they hope (to give them the benefit of the doubt), will set a new tone for their candidate's fifth term in office - assuming he wins, which seems more than likely. One major feature of this discourse is the prominent place given to constitutional and political reform. Yet one cannot help but notice the conspicuous absence in Mubarak's re-election platform of what many would agree is Egypt's number-one human rights problem: the prevalence of torture and ill-treat
Abuse undermines Egyptian elections Compiled by Daily Star staff Thursday, September 08, 2005 Egyptians voted in their first presidential election but President Hosni Mubarak's most prominent rival said widespread abuses undermined the credibility of the vote, which Mubarak is expected to win. Voters headed to polling stations to choose between Mubarak and his nine rivals, most of them little-known leaders of political parties with few members, with the exception of two liberal candidates Ayman Nour and Noman Gomaa. Several hundred demonstrators marched through central Cairo calling for a boycott of the vote, chanting "Down with Hosni Mubarak." Plainclothes men, who activists say were from the security forces, broke up the march and beat up some of the protesters. The election enlivened political debate after decades of stagnation and brought criticism of Mubarak, almost unthinkable a year ago. But the power structure remains the same and the opposition say they doubt Mu
Egypt Holds a Multiple-Choice Vote, but the Answer Is Mubarak By MICHAEL SLACKMAN The New York Times Published: September 8, 2005 CAIRO, Sept. 7 - Egyptians voted Wednesday in the nation's first multicandidate race for president, and while Egypt has clearly not yet shaken off decades of one-man, one-party rule, the streets were calm, protesters were allowed to block city traffic and voters could cast a ballot for someone other than Hosni Mubarak. This election was far from free and fair, based on visits to polling stations around the city. But it was a step forward, no matter how small, for a country that has operated under a state of emergency for decades, that has never allowed opposition candidates to appear on a presidential ballot and that routinely sanctioned violence as a tool on Election Day, political analysts and government critics said. "There are violations but in comparison to before, it's much better than we expected," said Gasser Abdel Razeq, a member
The Egyptian Movement for Change No to a Fifth Term….No to Handing Down Power (KEFAYA) Statement to the Nation The presidential elections were at the top of the demands we have called for in our establishing statement to the nation. However, we called for real, honest and unrigged elections. We called for elections that will allow the Egyptian people –without any coercion- to freely and honestly choose their president. We wanted elections that achieve honest competition and complete equality among candidates without discrimination or bias. We wanted real elections that open the door to democratic change, peaceful circulation of power between all political parties and powers, as well as achieve the people's interests and save Egypt from corruption and political and economic subordination. They have forged the national will with the deformed amendment to Article 76 of the Constitution which practically restricted election competition to no more than 300 persons who are members of the