Madina Newspaper Unlike Tunisians who toppled Ben Ali in 21 days, Egyptians were able to topple Hosni Mubarak's regime in 18 days. But there is one thing that makes Egyptians envy the Tunisians, who sparked the first wave of the Arab Spring — the successful transition in Tunisia. Tunisians followed in the footsteps of other successful countries in similar situations: They did not try to invent new things, a mistake which the Egyptians have made. The unsuccessful transition in Egypt has become a source of anger and frustration for many Egyptians who are wondering why the transfer of power did not come about as expected so that a new constitution could have been drawn up before the holding of the parliamentary and presidential elections. Egyptians are wondering how they failed to arrange for a smooth transition when they succeeded in 1824 to set up the first parliamentary council in the Middle East. Egyptians were also the first to set up a parliament in 1866. They drew up a constitution in 1923 and later a constitutional law that was written by Egyptian scholars, who also participated in drawing up most of the constitutions in the Arab world. The repercussions of the referendum on elections which was conducted by the Military Council led to further doubts about the intentions of the council, prompting people to take to Tahrir Square several times. The Council at times met their demands and at other times confronted them. But why do the revolutionaries oppose the Military Council? Revolutionaries say the policies adopted by the Council make them doubt its loyalty to the revolution. Some even go as far as to say that some members of the Council are leading a counter-revolution, while others say the Council and Islamist movement have made a deal to the effect that the Islamist movement will control parliament while the council takes over the leadership. The Council promised that it would hand power over to a civilian government in six months but did not live up to its promise. Again, it has promises that this will happen in the spring of 2012 but there are signs that it will renege on this promise as well after security forces attacked protesters at Tahrir Square. The Council's claim that unknown forces were responsible for these events has made Egyptians lose confidence in it. Egyptians do not believe that their security systems have been unable to identify the perpetrators for 11 months. They cannot accept the idea that the killers of around 2,000 people have not been found. While the results of the first and second stages of the parliamentary elections showed the dominance of Islamist movements, the Military Council as well as some national and liberal movements worry that an Islamist reign would turn Egypt into another Afghanistan. As it is now, the revolutionaries cast doubts on the intentions of the Military Council. The Council does not have the confidence of the revolutionaries or of the Islamist movement. At the same time, Copts, secularists, nationalists and liberals do not trust the Islamist movement. These disturbing developments weaken the revolution and make some analysts call it the “Revolution of Doubts.” __
