Vote for Tahrir

Revolutions are messy things. Few enough end happily; most,as they said of the French,wind up devouring their own children. But in a revolutionary spring,it is hard not to hope for an exception,and perhaps the Arab Springs exception will be Egypt. On Saturday,its electorate came out,in numbers that overwhelmed the turnout for Hosni Mubaraks innumerable stage-managed polls,to vote in a referendum on constitutional change. The question: were Egypts people ready to accept the changes to the old constitution suggested by a hastily cobbled together committee that examined the issue for 10 days? The answer,according to an overwhelming three-fourths majority,was yes.

Those who urged a vote for no were concerned the changes didnt go far enough to remove the malign influence of dictatorial rule and,not incidentally,that a positive result would clear the way for parliamentary elections within months,which they feared would be dominated by candidates from the old kings party,the National Democratic Party,or those backed by the Islamic Brotherhood,the only effectively organised opposition grouping for much of Mubaraks rule. Both the NDP and the Brotherhood were firmly in favour of a yes vote. The revolutions young leaders wont be happy. Yet it is difficult to avoid the thought that a landmark has been passed,and Egypts new dispensation is on a more stable footing.

This is a strange moment indeed: a revolution has submitted to democratic accountability. The scenes of mass protest inspired and uplifted,especially in the long-awaited moment of victory. But this,the casting of a free vote,is in its way as inspiring. Those three-fourths of Egypts voters who demand elections within months and a new constitution framed by the duly elected body to be submitted to another referendum a year later are all,in a way,revolutionaries today.