The Egyptian presidential election was a sensitive topic I didn’t plan on writing about. Nonetheless, Egypt is the kind of country all Arabs care for and their tower of strength in times of hardship.
I won’t go into the details of the electoral competition in Egypt. What concerns me is the present and future of Egypt as a pivot of stabilization in the Arab region.
I’m not going to express support to the Sisi administration, although I respect and appreciate its achievements for the nation. I will speak as an observer of Egyptian affairs and the rapid changes it went through over recent years.
To understand the state of politics, the economy, national security, and society in today’s Egypt, some background information is necessary.
Naturally, the media, stakeholders and researchers debate the achievements of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi. The debate enriches the Egyptian political scene and helps generating ideas around developing and accelerating present reform plans.
The current situation of Egypt can be better explained through a couple of points. First, the regional and international strategic environment was both favorable and harmful to Egypt. Second, the economy, politics, development and especially, domestic security, underwent changes since 30 June 2013.
In the wake of the fall of the former President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak’s regime, all Arabs were praying for a stable Egypt. At the time, chaos, destruction and conflicts caused more than 10 million Arabs to flee their countries and others to displace internally. Several Arab countries have been unfortunately destroyed.
Egypt is the “pillar of the Arab tent”, one might say. We talk about it for its significant role, not because we want to interfere in its affairs. A major civilization like Egypt is strong for any external interventions.
In past few years, when some Arab countries were in trouble, the current Egyptian leadership managed to safeguard the country from many threats and plots. Objective observers realize that some parts of Egypt were targets of subversion.
The people should give their captain some credit for doing the right thing. All matters considered, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has done a good job.
Back in 2011 and 2012, the most optimistic observers did not expect Egypt to simply survive the Arab troubles, thinking that effects could persist for years, and even decades. Egypt survived, however, with the least amount of losses, slowly returning to its place as an influential Arab power.
We can disagree about how the presidency did in the past four years, but we have to agree about its achievements. The influence of Egypt saved the entire Arab region what would’ve otherwise been total chaos.
Still, there are problems in terms of social and economic development, but we have faith in Egypt.
