‘Why do authoritarian regimes love elections?’ asked sociologist Amro Ali, referring to the assured reelection of Egypt’s incumbent president, Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, who’s been called ‘the most repressive dictator in modern Egyptian history.’
‘At the heart of it all remains a consistent factor,’ Ali continued, writing for the blocked independent new site Mada Masr on the eve of the 26-28 March vote: ‘The regime views elections not as an institutionalised mechanism within an accountable governance process, but as a carefully orchestrated event wrapped in a spectacle to reinforce the regime’s strength and test the oppositional waters.’
Just like the proverbial war is peace, freedom is slavery and ignorance is strength, Ali’s chilling inquiry carries an inbuilt paradox: elections without democracy. By way of illustration, Sissi’s serious challengers had dropped out of the race one-by-one, apparently due to violence and corruption, even detention and prosecution. Well, except for a last-minute and little-known ‘puppet candidate’ named Moussa Mostafa Moussa, who told The Guardian, ‘Don’t get confused. My party was endorsing Sisi before we decided to participate in the elections. We decided only to enter the campaign when we found everyone was thrown out.’
Unsurprisingly, as the final results showed on 2 April, Sissi won over 97 percent of valid votes — a figure reminiscent of his 2014 landslide — and Moussa took just under three percent. Interestingly, spoiled ballots — perhaps a show of dissent or apathy under pressure — constituted more than seven percent of total votes cast.
Authoritarian regimes love guaranteed landslide victories, i.e. the ‘sham election.’ The point is, the strongman still smiles.
Pro-Sissi rally, 20 March 2018. Cairo. (Hamada Elrasam)
Tora Prison complex, 14 March 2017. (Hamada Elrasam)
But that’s political theatre. And political theatre for some means human tragedy for others.
‘I don’t want to talk about elections,’ proclaimed human rights advocate Mona Seif, whose brother, Alaa Abd El-Fattah, has been sitting in prison for years after being convicted of violating Egypt’s anti-protest law, i.e. the regime’s ‘legalized authoritarianism.’ The point is, she said in a social media post last month, ‘He [Sissi] made prisons, police stations and morgues an integral part of our lives. Death news, executions, torture, abductions, 5 10 15 yrs prison sentences: recurrent normal vocabulary used in our daily life.’
Authoritarian regimes love prisons, too. Human rights groups estimate that tens of thousands of political prisoners are languishing in Sissi’s jails. ‘People should speak as they like,’ strongman Sissi recently reassured the nation, though. ‘If people keep repeating that the police take people, they will believe that there is an environment in Egypt where people cannot speak freely.’
Pro-Sissi rally, 19 March 2018. Cairo. (Hamada Elrasam)
Tora Prison complex, 14 March 2017. (Hamada Elrasam)
Pro-Sissi rally, 19 March 2018. Cairo. (Hamada Elrasam)
Tora Prison complex, 14 March 2017. (Hamada Elrasam)
Snapshots of the election — in the middle of a pro-Sissi rally in central Cairo — posture democracy, while those of a prison — against the backdrop of Egypt’s notorious Tora Maximum Security Prison — remind us of the usual cruel clutches of autocracy.
With respect to the latter: On 14 March 2017, photojournalist Hamada Elrasam covered the presidential pardoning of over 200 prisoners, most of whom were incarcerated for ‘politically related crimes’ such as violating the anti-protest law.
That day, Elrasam watched as hundreds of families and friends waited for hours — some for years — outside the walls of the Tora Prison complex. ‘If these prisoners are so dangerous,’ Elrasam asked himself rhetorically, ‘why is Sissi releasing them?’ Given that the announcement of their pardon came not long after the acquittal of ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak on charges of ordering the killing of 239 protesters during the 18 days of the 2011 revolution, the photojournalist inferred that ‘the regime’s trying to calm some public outrage: Mubarak is free, but all these protesters remain in prison?’
Later, the crowd at long last embraced their freed loved ones. ‘Are there any others among the tens of thousands,’ Elrasam asked himself rhetorically, ‘who deserve a pardon — their freedom — as well?’
(c) 2018 Le Monde diplomatique
https://mondediplo.com/outsidein/authoritarianism-as-usual