It is very worrying that the rules for Egypt's vital presidential election are not clear, despite there being more than a year of preparation. It is depressing that the first round is due to be held in six weeks on May 23 and 24, and registration of candidates has just closed with some candidates still not sure if they will be permitted to stand.
This is bad news for democracy, since clear elections require several essential conditions. The first is an honest register of all voters. The second is an understanding well in advance of who can form what kind of parties. The third is who is allowed to stand for office.
Without these vital conditions being fixed well in advance, any election becomes subject to cynical manipulation at worst and deep confusion among the voters at best.
It is a real problem that last minute uncertainties have emerged in Egypt's elections. It is odd that Omar Sulaiman, the country's spy chief under the former president Hosni Mubarak, can suddenly find himself eligible, despite his earlier doubts about getting the required 30,000 signatures to run; or that opposition liberal politician Ayman Nour, who ran for president in 2005, is in the process of being disqualified because of a conviction for alleged fraud; and that Khairat Al Shater, the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate, could still be banned under the same rule as Nour.
These sorts of issues should be sorted out and appealed if necessary long before the final few weeks. It is wrong that the candidates do not know their own status. Egypt is facing a time of major change, and because the Brotherhood and its allies have control of both parliament and the constitutional assembly, it is important that the elections for president are fair and transparent.
