The first works of a round table wanted by the Egyptian head of state to lower social tensions and smooth the image of his regime must take place in early July. Many fear a simple facade event.
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A few days before the start of the “national dialogue” in Egypt in early July, the vagueness persists on this round table supposed to bring together power and all the political forces of the country, with the exception of the Islamist movement of the Muslim Brotherhood . President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi had announced this initiative in April, when the deterioration of the economic situation raised serious social tensions. The themes that will be addressed during this great consultation are not yet known, any more than the list of participants. Reduced to silence and persecuted in recent years, the opponents of the interior oscillate between support for what could be a rare window of discussion and skepticism in the face of the risk of serving as a flavor in a facade event.
“The dialogue will not lead to a radical change in Egypt. But a margin of freedom has been opened by the invitation to dialogue. If it can be extended, through important liberation of political prisoners and a reduction Constraints on freedom of expression and the activity of political parties will be a considerable accomplishment, “said Mustapha Kamel al-Sayed, professor of political science at the University of Cairo and one of the founders of the Civil Democratic Movement , a coalition of left-wing opposition parties, liberals or social democrats.
The first works in early July should only concern the nineteen members’ committee which was formalized on Sunday, June 26. According to the dialogue coordinator, Diaa Rashwan, who directs both the union of journalists and the Presidency Information Service, “hundreds” of invitations were launched, including to Egyptians from the diaspora, sessions planned in a second step.
The Muslim Brotherhood, who constituted the main opposition force under Hosni Mubarak (in power from 1981 to 2011), when they were prohibited but tolerated, are not concerned. The brotherhood is now banned, and its members are in exile or in prison. Negotiations for dialogue continue with the opposition from the interior. The room for maneuver of this is reduced: marginalized since the accession to power of Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, in 2014, the opposition of the interior fears that power is content with a simple public relations operation , intended to improve its image in Western capitals.
wishing to find a presence on the political scene, the opposition has defined priorities: abolition of the law on pre -trial detention which allows incarceration without judgment up to two years, passage to a voting system proportional to Legislative elections, reopening hundreds of blocked websites, etc.
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