Egypt's transition to a democratic system has come crashing down, a year and a half after mass protests that forced the resignation of the long-serving authoritarian ruler Hosni Mubarak. As presidential elections came to a close on Sunday, Egypt found itself without a parliament or a constitution, with a broken economy and no consensus on how to go forward.
The public is at the same time polarized between secularists and Islamists, frustrated with the stalled transition, and weary of ongoing protest and unrest. Real power has returned into the hands of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces which has skilfully played liberal parties against Islamists, while the youth activist groups that led the anti-Mubarak protest gradually lost touch with ordinary Egyptians.
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Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images.
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