Egypt’s pro-democracy opposition

In an op-ed in today’s Washington Times, columnists Nir Boms and Benjamin Balint report on the current state of Egypt's pro-democracy opposition parties and activists including Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim of the Center for Development Studies in Cairo.

Boms and Balint address the shared principles of the pro-democracy opposition parties in Egypt – parties that often find themselves restrained by the agendas of President Hosni Mubarak and his ruling National Democratic Party and the Islamists who hold 20 percent of the parliamentary seats.

Boms and Balint writes that the pro-democracy opposition movement shares a platform of, “genuine democracy and an independent judiciary, free establishment of political parties, privatization and the abolition of Egypt's state of emergency. Reformers also seek to amend Article 77 of the constitution in order to impose a two-term limit on the president.”

Boms and Balint also argue that, overall, there exists “a critical attitude toward American democratization efforts in the Middle East.”

For the full article, click here