The course of the constitutional amendments ended with a result defined in all our previous referenda; the usual “yes” announced amongst Egypt’s referendums.
Yet a question remains: Were there any interactions or parallel paths invisible to Egyptian society?
The course of the constitutional amendments shows that most people focused on the President’s term in the office, regardless of any other articles.
The first proposal was to give the president the right to remain in power for two terms after the end of his original term, so that the two terms that would end in 2034, but there was backing down on this and now the president has the right to stay in power until 2030 for one term.
Some MPs who interacted closely with the final phrasing of the constitution’s amended articles, told me how the debate suddenly shifted from giving two additional terms to the president, to just one additional term in 24 hours, surprising many people.
So, why did the state retreat and reduce it to one term in the office?
Is it due to the strength of the opposition, civil associations, or unions that rejected the amendments?
The truth is that there is no single sign pointing to strength from the opposition, political parties or the presence of influential trade unions, all of whom suffer from general weakness and marginalization. This makes it difficult to credit the strength of organized political opposition as behind the reduction of the presidential terms.
In fact there are voices which if blocked in public, will still exist in the reality known in democratic countries as the Public Opinion.
This can be described in our country as the parallel courses or invisible interactions estimated by the state institutions, and so we know the truth of its position on issues raised and the popularity of governance, amongst other issues.
Certainly, there are interactions taking place in the depth of the Egyptian society away from political parties and institutions, which has made the state reduce the presidential terms and retreat from the first proposal.
In fact, these interactions are not influenced by a political mediator or framed by a supportive or opposing party. These are instinctive and spontaneous positions that can not be controlled by directed media or by security services, but are rather a reaction to a reality.
No matter what pro-government media figures say about the great reality and that we are living in a period of stability and prosperity, it is the economic reality that people are living and the functioning of rule of law that are the two things establishing people’s real positions, even if some try to hide this.
It is clear that there is a majority within Egyptian society who quietly oppose the large numbers of people that suffer from ignorance, destitution and marginalization, and accepts all forms of electoral and non-electoral bribes.
The time has come for the state to return once again to communicating with the majority by presenting a sincere and transparent speech, with which popular and political channels of communication can be built away from the campaigns of hypocrisy and manifestations of pathos that we have seen in many places, even the oldest Egyptian and Arab university.
