According to the Interior Minister for Administrative Affairs Refat Qomsan, nearly 50,650,000 citizens will be eligible to vote in the parliamentary elections expected in November, which will continue in three stages.  Qomsan also emphasized that in preparation for the parliamentary elections, the Ministry of Interior is "developing new mechanisms to further organize the electoral process to ensure its integrity and transparency." Qomsan said that the new database that was developed for ...

Eric Trager writes on the role of the Muslim Brotherhood throughout the political transition of Egypt.  Trager argues that "The Brotherhood is Egypt's most cohesive political movement, with an unparalleled ability to mobilize its followers, who will serve it extremely well in a country still unaccustomed to voting."  From January through March this year, Trager interviewed about 30 current and former Brotherhood members in an effort to examine its organizational ...

Yemeni politicians abandoned the newly formed opposition council, exposing divisions in the anti-government movement.  The 143 member National Council was formed on Wednesday by two opposition groups to further emphasize their movement against President Ali Abdullah Saleh's regime.  However, on Saturday, nearly two dozen of its members announced their resignation due to a dispute over unequal representation between members of the south and north of Yemen.

In an interview with Reuters, leader of the Front for Justice and Development party, Sheikh Abdallah Djaballah, said that the Algerian government has failed to address the undemocratic system and has instead tried to hand out money to appease popular dissent. He said, "The regime wanted to fix the problem financially by saying that the crisis is social and that raising wages will be enough... It is true that the social aspect ...

Al-Wefaq, Bahrain's largest Shiite group, reported on Friday that it would boycott the parliamentary elections taking place next month.  Khalil Marzooq, a leader of Al-Wefaq, said at a rally near Bahrain's capital that "if the party participates in the September elections, it will be giving the government a stamp of approval."  He added that the group disagrees with how security forces treated protesters. Anthony Mathew Jacob writes in Tehran Times that ...

On Friday, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems hosted a panel discussion entitled: “Women in the Middle East: Attitudes and Advocacy in an Opening Political Space.” The discussion was part of the Interaction Forum. The panelists included Rola Abdul-Latif, IFES Senior Research Specialist; Rana Jarhum, Advocacy and Senior Media Specialist, WATAN Coalition (The Yemeni Women for Social Peace Campaign); and Carla Koppell, Senior Coordinator, Office of Gender Equality & ...

On Wednesday, the Middle East Institute hosted a panel discussion entitled: "Syria on the Verge: Implications for a Nation in Revolt." The panelists included Radwan Ziadeh, Director, Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies; Ausama Monajed, Director, Strategic Research & Communications Center, London; Amb. Theodore Kattouf, Former U.S. Ambassador to Syria; and Andrew Tabler, Next Generation Fellow, Program on Arab Politics, Washington Institute for Near East Policy. The discussion was moderated by ...

Nathan Brown writes on what the U.S. policy is toward engaging the Muslim Brotherhood in an article entitled, "What Does the U.S. Want to Talk to the Brotherhood About?" According to Brown, the Obama administration is not going to engage in "some grand dialogue between the United States and the Islamist movement but instead a slow and limited resumption of normal diplomatic contact with a leading social and political actor."  Brown ...

Kareem Fahim describes the "deep frustration" experienced by residents of Sidi Bouzid, as a microcosm of dissatisfaction with the progress of the political transition. He notes how most residents blame "the lack of progress here on the transitional government, which has moved slowly to address one of the revolution’s central complaints — youth unemployment — especially here in the towns of central Tunisia, where the uprising began." Similarly, Ellen Byrne discusses the growing ...

The comments last week by Cherif Bassiouni, leader of the Independent Commission of Inquiry tasked with investigating the crackdown in Bahrain, continue to spark controversy. The Bahrain Youth Center for Human Rights (BYCHR) sent an open letter to Bassiouni, expressing disappointment in his comments. In contrast to Bassiouni's statement, "many, if not most, have told us that they are genuinely afraid of the consequences of their testifying once your esteemed Commission has left." And the BYCHR condemned Bassiouni ...