Egypt Govt., opposition must together oversee transition process

New York/Cairo, Feb.10 (ANI): The government and the opposition need to jointly set a date for elections and establish an independent commission to oversee the process, an analysis in the New York Times has said.

According to the analysis, Egyptian and international monitors will need to observe the vote and the count.

The government and opposition will need to work together to establish criteria for registering parties and candidates and ensure that all have access to the news media.

According to the analysis, how the political cauldron that is Egypt will turn out is anybody's guess.

The government is using all of its power - including a promised 15 percent raise for federal workers - to try to hang on. The opposition is courageously pushing back.

Egyptian Vice-President Suleiman may talk sweetly to Washington and Brussels, but he appears far more interested in maintaining as much of the old repressive order as he can get away with. That, according to the analysis, is unacceptable to Egyptians and it should be unacceptable to Egypt's Western supporters.

It further goes on to state that the pro-democracy protesters have won some important concessions.

More reform was promised, but it has been hard to take that seriously after Mubarak gave himself the sole power to appoint a panel to recommend constitutional amendments.

Suleiman, according to the analysis, is not going to do what's needed on his own.

So the United States and its allies will have to lay down a clear list of steps that are the minimum for holding a credible vote this year and building a democracy.

The Egyptian government cannot choose which reforms to dole out when. Opposition leaders must participate in all aspects of the reform process. The emergency law must be lifted and Egyptians guaranteed freedom of speech and association. All detained protesters must be freed and the government-allied forces who viciously attacked demonstrators last week must be prosecuted.

Then the full debate over Egypt's future can take place and the Egyptian people can decide, the analysis concludes. (ANI)