Role Of the People
"We affirm the right of the people to make their future" Stated in Egypt's newly formed constitution, the people have the roles of approving the constitution, exercise and protect sovereignty, protect public property, vote on each issue for a referendum, own official documents, information, data, and statistics, and to actively participate in protests.
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VOTING AND ELECTIONS
Egyptians are eligible to vote at the age of 18 but may not participate in voting in elections if they are active members in the armed forces and police, convicted of a felony without rehabilitation, those discharged from civil service, under treatment for mental illness, and under judicial sanction. Any Egyptian citizen over 25 years old, unless suspended politically, may run in parliamentary elections.
PARTIES
Political Parties in Egypt include the Alliance, National Democratic, New Wafd, National Progressive Unionist, Muslim Brotherhood, Socialist Labor, Socialist Liberals, and the Umma Party. Women's representation in political parties remain rather weak through the shifts in equality recently. The Alliance is a religious organization that cannot participate in elections legally and the Umma Party is an Islamist-oriented party that is small beyond the family of its leader, Sibahi. The National Democratic Party is controlled by the current president of Egypt, Hunsi Murbarak, and was created in 1978 from the Arab Socialist Union. Members of the party mostly include governors, high government officials, and many public sector officials and is the largest and most financed party in Egypt. The New Wafd Party involves mostly businessmen and is the result to the liberal nationalist independence movement. A legal left party split from the Arab Socialist Union that includes progressives, industrial workers, and "enlightened Muslims" is called the National Progressive Unionist Party. The Muslim Brotherhood Party was outlawed in 1948 and believed that Islamic law is the basis of all legislation, and the Socialist Labor Party is a right wing party in favor of the free market.
MEDIA
Social media in Egypt has shown to take place a lot more often recently and in times of revolution. With the use of social media Egyptians have shown their dissatisfaction with the government and have been able to coordinate protests. The media also showed the rebellion activities and helped to disclose the misconduct by the regime and injustice. Overall media in Egypt plays a large role in influencing policies and to publish information.
COMPARISON IN THE UNITED STATES
Egypt's parliament is similar to the House of Representatives in the United States in the means of district divisions for candidates. Both have a large amount of districts set up by size and what the voting outcome will most likely be in the certain district, however, in Egypt, depending on the size of the district multiple candidate may be elected compared to just one per district in the U.S.
The United States has many different parties like Egypt and a range of ideologies from the left to moderate to the right. There are two major parties that take the largest role in elections, the Democrat Party and the Republican Party. The Democratic Party has left leaning views which value a larger government and more progressive beliefs. The Republican Party is to the right and believes in a smaller government and sticking to tradition. There are more and more voters becoming independents as well who do not affiliate with either party. The media also plays a significant role in politics in the United states. The first amendment of the U.S. Constitution states that no laws shall be made that abridge the right of freedom of press, speech, and assembly. News and the public take part in "gate-keeping" which is the action of choosing what to focus on and for how long. The media acting as a "watchdog" is similar to having a checks and balance system on the government and closely scrutinizes the actions of the government. |