Meet The Old Boss, Same As The New Boss
As expected, Hosni Mubarak is expected to win in the upcoming Egyptian elections, while opposition candidate Ayman Nour is calling for a revote. This is the first multiparty election in Egypt, but it is also tightly controlled by Mubarak, and there are widespread reports of electoral fraud. Mubarak is making concessions to democracy, but has no intention of giving up power. The Egyptian opposition, especially Mr. Nour, have been brave in demanding truly free elections. Hopefully they will get them.
Tymoshenko Sacked
President Viktor Yushchenko has dismissed his government, including Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko over allegations of corruption on the part of government ministers and personality disputes. Tymoshenko has the advantage of being politically popular (as well as being a major babe), and if her Tymoshenko Bloc divorces itself from Yushchenko’s Our Ukraine Party it would mean defeat in the upcoming parliamentary elections in March.
Yushchenko rose to power in the democratic Orange Revolution, but like many new democratic leaders, he’s finding that revolutions are easy compared to forming a stable government. However, Ukraine deserves to have democratic stability, and hopefully Yushchenko’s pro-Western policies and democratic outlook won’t be stalled by recent events.
