The Associated Press is reporting that President Hosni Mubarak's regime set up a committee Tuesday to recommend constitutional changes that would relax presidential eligibility rules and impose term limits. Mubarak's decrees were announced on state television by Vice President Omar Suleiman, who also said that Mubarak had announced the creation of a separate committee to monitor the implementation of all proposed reforms. The two committees would start working immediately, but Suleiman did not give details about who would sit on the panels or how they would be chosen.
The formation of the committees is yet another attempt by Mubarak to assauge the opposition. It may not work, particularly in light of President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's shift in thinking about the speed of Mubarak's exit. They now believe that Mubarak's transition to democracy should take months instead of weeks in order to ensure stability for the divided country. The opposition is calling for new protests unless Mubarak steps down immediately.
Democracy is coming, whether Mubarak likes it or not. It will take time for democracy to emerge, whether the opposition likes it or not. Will the reform committees help them find common ground in the meantime? What do you think?
Read more at Yahoo News.
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