Two key elections

I cannot recall a weekend when two elections of such importance but unpredictability as tomorrow's in Greece and Egypt's coincided. There is no specific connection between them but each has the potential to produce a result that could add to already dangerous unrest and uncertainty within their own countries and beyond their boundaries.

In Greece a victory for Syriza the far left group led by Alexis Tsipras, which seems possible, would result in probably unacceptable demands by him on the leaders of the EU's eurozone for a softening of the austerity measures already imposed as a condition for the bailout support that is keeping Greece afloat. An alternative result similar to last month's inconclusive election would merely prolong the uncertainty. Either way, any way, the outlook is bleak. In Egypt the prospect is of an elected president who will have neither a constitution nor a parliament to provide guidelines for his term of office. Furthermore the two candidates come from backgrounds representative of the very limited political life allowed during Mubarak's rule -- Ahmad Shafik who served as Mubarak's last prime minister and Mohamed Morsy, a long-serving member of the Muslim Brotherhood. It is almost as if the Arab Spring revolution in Egypt never took place. When the young demonstrators in Cairo's Tahrir Square complain that “the revolution has been stolen from us” they are probably right.