Political Structure
Egypt is officially a democracy. But its citizens enjoy few of the
democratic freedoms and little of the representation found in
Western democracies, and Egypt’s political system is usually
described as authoritarian. There is a president who is nomi-
nated by the People’s Assembly, or Parliament. Following the
nomination, the president is elected for a six-year term in a
popular referendum. In essence, the Egyptian people are asked
to answer “yes” or “no” to the question: “Do you want this man
to be your president?” Every six years, the answer is a resound-
ing “yes,” typically around 95 percent. There are many ques-
tions about how well the reported result reflects real feelings
among Egyptians, and there are larger questions about Egypt’s
democratic process. Mubarak has been nominated repeatedly
by his National Democratic Party, whose overwhelming grip
on power within Parliament (holding about 95 percent of the
seats) often seems to come about through suspect ways. Recent
parliamentary elections have been accompanied by widespread
voter fraud, including the stuffing of some ballot boxes and the
suspicious disappearance of others, and the arrest and harass-
ment of opposition supporters just prior to elections. Leading
intellectuals have been jailed for encouraging Egyptians to vote
for opposition candidates—and even for simply encouraging