The decision triggered outrage among many of the activists at the forefront of
February's overthrow of Hosni Mubarak, the former president, and raised
fears of further instability at a time when many reformers believe the gains
they made five months ago are under threat.
The ruling military council claimed that foreign oversight over the vote, Egypt's
most important for decades, would impinge on the country's sovereignty.
The justification infuriated the liberal opposition, not least because it was
used so often by Mr Mubarak, who consistently prevented outside monitoring
over every election held during his three decades in power.
Pro-democracy activists said the decision to employ the same tactics meant
that any vote could not be seen as credible and accused the military
leadership of seeking to cover up a plot to "cook the result".
"The previous regime used to try to convince us that foreign observers
were enemies and spies and now the military are promoting the same idea,"
said Sherif Etman of the Egyptian Organisation of Human Rights.
"But the fact is that if international observers are not allowed, the
electoral process as a whole will not be fair or transparent."
Five months after their triumph in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the mood among
Egypt's liberals has steadily soured amid accusations that the military
leadership is deliberately slowing the pace of reform and is planning a
power grab.
Once again, although in far smaller numbers, protesters have pitched their
tents in the square - a campaign that has yielded some dividends. The
interim civilian government swore in a new cabinet on Thursday, the second
since the revolution, in a bid to placate the protesters.
Egypt's military chiefs insist that they are attempting to institute genuine
reforms, pointing to the fact that the elections will now be managed by
independent judges rather than the hated interior ministry.
Yet the generals have also made it increasingly apparent that they hope to
play a powerful role in the country once it has made its transition to
civilian rule.
The head of the military council ruling Egypt swore in a new Cabinet on
Thursday under pressure from protesters demanding faster change and a
weeding out of those tied to the ousted regime of President Mubarak.
The new government led by Prime Minister Essam Sharaf features 12 new faces
and two deputy prime ministers. Thirteen other members kept their jobs.
Hisham Bastawisi, an army-backed candidate who is to stand for the presidency
once parliamentary elections have been held, has called for the military to
be declared the country's ultimate guarantor of democracy with the right to
intervene if it is threatened.
In private, some generals have spoke of their desire to see Egypt modelled on
Turkey, where, until recently, the military wielded major clout and
intervened in politics on several occasions, ostensibly to protect the
country's secular heritage.
Egypt's generals similarly believe they are the only real safeguard against
the country's once-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, which is likely to emerge as
a major force after the parliamentary elections.
The liberal opposition, expected to do less well, ironically shares the army's
fear of Egypt's Islamists.
But it is equally suspicious of the military, which has dominated Egypt since
Gamal Abdel Nasser, Anthony Eden's onetime nemesis, and his fellow Free
Officers overthrew the monarchy in 1952.
The army won praise last February for refusing to fire on protesters. But many
of those who massed in Tahrir Square still see it as part of the ancien
regime, forever tainted by association with Mr Mubarak, and argue that Egypt
will never be truly democratic until its political influence is stripped
away.
