Saleh's Shrinking Self-Imposed Deadline to Step Down in Yemen
Egypt's second of three rounds of parliamentary elections began today, and two of the big talking points during this election are booze and beachwear -- at least according to CNN's report. Egypt's Islamist parties -- the two most powerful being relatively moderate Muslim Brotherhood and more conservative Salafis -- stand to make further gains in the second round of elections as voting opened today in "the Giza, Luxor, Aswan and Ismailia regions, which have historically favored conservative Islamic candidates." That has liberals in the country worried, since the Islamist parties already won about two-thirds of the first round's vote, as Reuters reports. Their concern is that Islamists will walk back secular reforms: "Just this last week, the Salafis, the ultra-conservative [party], came out and were talking about certain thing like banning booze in Egypt and segregating beaches and banning bikinis on beaches," reports CNN's Ian Lee. But liberals just don't want imposed religious norms -- banning alcohol and bikinis would hurt the Egyptian economy. "These are things that have a lot of people worried because Egypt really relies on the tourism industry for revenue." Money seems to be talking to the Muslim Brotherhood and some other Salafis, who say they wouldn't do anything to hurt the tourism industry. "We will not rule Egypt alone. Parliament will include all the colors of the rainbow that must agree on one direction, one goal," the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Badie, told supporters on TV, according to Reuters.
Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at dgrandoni at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.
| Related Articles | More by Dino Grandoni | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Have a story we missed? A link we have to click? A sharp opinion about the news? Instead of waiting for us to post it, tell us on the Open Wire.
Submit your news and ideas | See all reader posts
User Comments
Please type your comment and click Post. If you’re not already logged in you will be prompted to log in or register