It seems the Egyptian government is no more. In resigning, Hosni Mubarak supposedly transferred power to the Supreme Military Council although the constitutional basis for that is unknown. However the Jerusalem Post reports the Egyptian military will cement the deal by immediately sacking the Mubarak cabinet and proceeding to dissolve Egypt's parliament.
Wiping the slate clean was always fundamental to prospects for genuine democratic reform and the decisiveness shown by the military council suggests they're serious about reform.
It remains to be seen whether the military will initiate some sort of "national reconciliation" scheme to absolve Mubarak and the NDP leadership of responsibility for any past excesses.
Now to fall back on the tag line of every hack reporter, I'll just say "time will tell."
The Beeb had an Egyptian constitutional scholar on this morning's coverage of the events.
ReplyDeleteThe scholar said the military are the appropriate branch to take over right now but that really it shouldn't be more than a couple of months before the Pres pro tem becomes whoever is Speaker of the House.
With the dissolution of Parliament that's obviously no longer an option. Its a good sign that the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces aren't doing it alone- the head of the Egytian Supreme Court is in there too
On the other hand Wael Ghonim says he has faith in the military to keep their word and do what the protesters have said they want.
ie - a transparent transition to free and fair elections which various Egyptians have said won't be able to be held for around a year.