With Egypt’s presidential elections around the corner, many observers fully expect the former defense minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to head the country. Comparisons of Sisi with Hosni Mubarak, however, ignore the massive political machinery that backed Mubarak’s policy and personnel decisions. Without such a mechanism, Sisi will have to work with coalitions and individuals clamoring for position in the new political order.

Jayson Casper, a blogger on Egyptian politics, society, and religion at A Sense of Belonging, writes in his latest article on EgyptSource about how questions surrounding the Muslim Brotherhood and religion have now been replaced with questions over the Sisi presidency and security, creating fissures within some prominent political parties. The Egyptian Social Democratic Party (center-left) recently lost thirty-one members to the Free Egyptians Party (center-right) precisely with regard to this question rather than ideological differences. Casper argues that the way by which Sisi interacts with the new parliament can potentially erode the significance of ideological distinction in the future.

Read his full article on EgyptSource, titled, “Ideological Distinction in the Coming Parliament.”

Image: People walk in front of parliament in Cairo March 7, 2013. (Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany)