The following is a letter to the editor submitted by the Embassy to the Washington Post regarding their editorial board’s recent commentary.

To the Editor,

The false characterization in the May 29 editorial “General discontent” of Egypt’s presidential election this week as “failed” reveals a deep lack of understanding of Egypt’s complex and ongoing political transition. Since 2011, our country has experienced two revolutions and defeated a failed experiment with a model of governance that was rejected by millions of Egyptians. Throughout, we have been battling an increasingly sophisticated and determined terror network. Just in the last 11 months, Egypt has successfully drafted and passed a new Constitution that meets international human rights and civil liberties standards, and has held internationally-monitored presidential elections.

We are the first to admit that Egypt’s path to democracy is not yet perfect, but we are determined to get there. It is easy to cast stones on our fledgling democracy from some in the US, whose Constitution, political systems and human rights standards took generations to develop. What is hard, apparently, is nuanced understanding of our country’s internal dynamics, history, and role in regional and global trade and security and the long trajectory any democratic transition requires.

Your newspaper has opted for the easy road again and again. Your claim that voter turnout was low is totally unfounded. Your whole assessment is based on this fabrication. Rather than wait for the official results and the reports of election observers, you chose to pre-empt any objective discourse. In fact, presidential candidate “Hamdeen Sabahi”, whom you chose to misquote, conceded that, irrespective of various assertions of irregularities, the will of the Egyptian people is beyond doubt. Your hyperbolic rhetoric no doubt helps keep you in business, but does a disservice to those who seek greater understanding about our world.

Mohamed Tawfik, Egyptian Ambassador to the United States

3521 International Court Northwest

Washington, DC 20008

(202) 895-5400