February 10th, 2011
Today is a proud moment in Egyptian history as after three weeks of struggle, demonstration, protests at Tahrir square but continued determination of the Egyptian people, the Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak has agreed to step down from his three decade long position of President.
According to the article published by FoxNews, Mubarak will be handing power over to the Egyptian Higher Council of Armed Forces which is comprised of the minister of defense along with the military’s chief of staff, the chief of operations and commanders of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Air Defenses. The interesting thing to note is this is an unconstitutional move. According to the constitution, if the President steps down, the next-in-line i.e. the Speaker of the Assembly becomes the Interim President and is then supposed to arrange democratic elections within sixty days. In this case, since the power is being transferred to the Egyptian Higher Council of Armed Forces, which is military-run, it is unclear as to what the progression of events will be after that.
It is my hope and calculated prediction, that regardless of what the next holder of power decides to do, there will be democracy in the truest sense of the word in Egypt. This is because the Egyptian people have demonstrated that they are united and committed to struggle for their rights. What seemed impossible a month ago has been made possible by their resilience and since lasting change has to come from within, I believe that the Egyptian people will keep the next person of power in check!