Egypt’s president for life, or at least the last 24 years is now calling for multi-candidate elections. He is requesting a national referendum to open up the September presidential rubber stamp. My take over at Bloggledygook:

This is a very shrewd move by Mubarak, who has been snubbed just this last week by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and has seen increased pressure form the US in the wake of the arrest of Ayman Nour.

I don’t want to be overly skeptical, but the reaction from the audience seems to me to have been staged and a little too good to be true. He could be using this as a way of portraying himself as a new democrat while ferreting out the opposition. He could also have decided that this would be an opportune time in which to make the gamble of staging an election that could possibly get past international observers allowing him to consolidate his power and squelch the growing chorus of criticism.

I see a trip to Cairo by Jimmy Carter. I predict that if this election comes off that no matter how honest or corrupt it turns out to be, Jimmah will give it his imprimatur and the rest of the world will shrug and get back to focusing on where democracy is actually given a chance of succeeding.

It’s hard not to choke on one’s morning coffee when reading this. We have been witnessed to sham elections coming at odd times before. We will see in the coming weeks whether this is a ploy by Mubarak to deflect criticism or an honest attempt to become legitimate.