Sunday, February 06, 2011

The Way Forward? Tunisia Suspends Ruling Party

Egypt's path to democracy seems to be blocked by the country's ruling party, the National Democratic Party of Mubarak & Co.  Mubarak's freshly minted veep, Omar Sulieman, is running the place and that includes managing the negotiations with opposition groups supposed to lead to fair and open elections in September.  The problem is that the one party that absolutely needs to ensure there will be no fair and open elections is Sulieman's.   A democratic government would demand accountability and neither Sulieman nor many of his colleagues would want to face that.

Tunisians have been hung up on the same peg until today.   There the interior ministry has intervened to suspend the ruling, Democratic Constitutional Rally party, in preparation for its dissolution.  Effective immediately, DCR meetings are suspended, its offices shut down.

It appears Tunisia will approach democracy with a clean slate which would probably be a lesson Egypt should learn.  The National Democratic Party that was anything but democratic has far too much baggage to continue.  It has to go.  Egypt, like Tunisia, needs a fresh start, a clean slate.

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