Egypt is a democratic country or not?

Egypt is not a democratic country in any way for violating the basic properties of democracy. By the end of the twentieth century, democratic systems of government were effective in many parts of the world. That picture has changed a lot in the 21st century. According to political scientists, democracy is only nominally effective in many countries of the world. Although many countries do not have a direct military rule as in the twentieth century, political scientists say that in many countries democratically elected governments are behaving like military dictators.

In a democracy there are some properties, now let me explain when we can decide that a country is not democratic and then compare that with the current situation of Egyptian politics.

So-called Election

The key to democracy is elections. The election is the main lifely hook of democracy according to political scientists. And most importantly that election should be water-like transparent as much as possible.

Political scientists do not agree to call a country democratic where the election is not transparent and the result is pre-defined.

Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has been president of Egypt since 2014, most of the countrymen were not happy under his rule. 2018 there was again an election but that election was not transparent and fair at all. The people of Egypt repeatedly protested against SISI to eradicate this dictatorship rule. More than a thousand protesters have been killed in clashes with security forces and thousands more have been detained in crackdowns on anti-government protesters.

Manipulate The people

In a democracy, public opinion and demand is an important component. Every elected government can not be declared as democratic just because they won the election. They must need to follow the core principles of democracy. According to political scientists when there is no democracy in practice then government try to prove public opinion as a Traitor of a state or country. They always try to control their countrymen by security enforcement group.

An Egyptian human rights group says it has documents showing at least 1,500 people have gone missing in the past four years. But according to them, the actual number is much higher. Anyone suspected of being anti-government, or anti-government — who is now at risk — does not care whether that suspicion is true or not. Relatives or friends of the suspects may also be arrested. Many of the targets of these attacks are Islamists. Human rights activists say that when these missing persons reappeared weeks or months later, they were tortured and charged with terrorism.

Influence of security forces

According to political scientists, in the absence of democracy, the country’s security forces engage in various illegal activities. This is because the ruling class uses the security forces for political repression and oppression of the common people in order to stay in power.

In Egypt, there were several incidents of killing thousands of protesters by security forces, and numerous people were injured.

Lake of Free Press

One of the core components of democracy is Free Press. The quickest way to determine the degree of democracy in a country is to see if the media criticizes the government. In the absence of a democratic environment, people are afraid to express their views freely. In that case, the media is afraid to work independently.

The people of Egypt can not criticize the government. Whenever someone says something against the government, he/she falls into government jail.

By considering these facts and news of the current situation of the Egyptian government, we don’t see any democratic properties. A country or government can not be said democratic unless there is a Free press, Freedom of speech, Transparent Election, Proper use of security enforcement group, Functioning opinion party, etc.

References

BBC News বাংলা staff reporter. (2018, February 28). মিশরে কেন মানুষ “রহস্যজনকভাবে নিখোঁজ” হয়ে যায়. BBC News বাংলা. https://www.bbc.com/bengali/news-43209226

BBC News বাংলা staff reporter. (2019, September 15). গণতন্ত্র: যেসব লক্ষণ দেখে বুঝবেন একটি দেশ গণতান্ত্রিক নয়. BBC News বাংলা. https://www.bbc.com/bengali/news-49707000

Manfreda, P. (2018, June 16). Is Egypt a Democracy? ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/is-egypt-a-democracy-2352931