Tuesday's editorials and columns reflect the anxiety of various journalists and writers about the influence of Islamists, who strongly backed proposed amendments to Egypt's Constitution.
The Muslim Brotherhood, banned under former president Hosni Mubarak, has hailed the results of Saturday's national referendum, in which more than 77 percent of voters favored the amendments.
Veteran journalist Galal Dweidar, in his daily column for the state-run Al-Akhbar, analyzed the ways in which voters were pushed to vote "yes" in the nation's first democratic exercise in decades.
Dweidar argued that voters were motivated to vote "yes" because their main concern is to achieve stability and end the current state of chaos, but religious groups have tried to use fear for political gain.
The Muslim Brotherhood hadn't backed the revolution in its first days but is trying to benefit from the fall of Mubarak regime, Dweidar said.
"These religious forces are planning now for the parliamentary battle using their highly organized structure and the factor of time, which might prevent any (civil and) political force from representing the people," he wrote.
The Brotherhood, formed in 1928, has enjoyed unprecedented position in the post-Mubarak era. Some experts believe Egypt's new military rule is more tolerant toward the group.
During the referendum, the Brotherhood had organized in Cairo, Alexandria and the Delta to back the "yes" vote, although youth groups and other secular forces had called for a "no" vote.
But the Brotherhood's influence is not the only alarming aspect of the political scene, political analyst Neveine Mossad said.
"The basic element for dispute (between the yes and no vote) is the content of the proposed amendments and its constitutionality. However, we suddenly found that some forces are dividing Egyptians into two camps: believers and nonbelievers," Mossad wrote in the privately-owned Al-Shorouk.
Mossad pointed to mechanisms and strategies used by religious groups in order to use Islam as a means to back the referendum, which became a battle concerning Article 2 of the Constitution.
The article, drafted in 1980 under former president Anwar Sadat, reads: "Islam is the Religion of the State, Arabic is its official language, and the principal source of legislation is Islamic Jurisprudence (Sharia)." While it wasn't among the proposed amendments, it has caused some sectarian debate.
On Sunday, Coptic Christian Pope Shenouda III suggested an addition to Article 2 of the Constitution for non-Muslim denominations.
Ahmed al-Tayyib, the Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar, the highest religious institution in the Sunni Muslim world, said last month that changing Article 2 may "provoke sedition." He described the article as an established principle for the state.
The majority of Egyptians are Sunni Muslims, but in addition to Coptic Christians — who constitute 10 percent of Egypt's population — there are other religious minorities such as Jews, Baha'is and Shia Muslims.
Mossad said the reactions of ordinary voters showed anxiety and fear about changing Article 2 and showed the success of the strategies used by religious groups.
However, journalist Khalid Idriss disagreed with the assumption that the referendum was a victory for the Muslim Brotherhood.
He wrote in the liberal daily Al-Wafd that the referendum proved, in a sense, that the Brotherhood failed in calling people to the referendum because the turnout was only 41 percent.
He also argued that not all of the voters who said yes sympathize with the Brotherhood, saying that the vast majority of "yes" voters hoped that backing the referendum would accelerate the process toward a more stable society.
But journalist Mohamed Salim, writing for the state-run Al-Gomhorriya, described the organization as a political force that would help to achieve a more advanced democratic system. He argued that the heavy presence of Brotherhood members in the referendum prevented electoral irregularities from dominating the results.
Business
In other news, Egyptian papers on Tuesday celebrated the move by the European Union to freeze the assets of Mubarak and 18 of his associates with accounts held in its member states. EU foreign ministers had agreed on the move Monday after a request made by Egypt's Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.
Egypt's flagship paper Al-Ahram said that the list includes Mubarak, his wife Suzanne, his two sons and their wives, the former interior minister and other officials from the former ruling National Democratic Party (NDP).
Al-Ahram also said that Ayman Farid Abul Hadid, minister of agriculture and land reclamation, has ordered to form a committee to investigate the land properties of 700 former MPs.
As for Egypt's stock exchange, which was closed for almost 50 days because of the political turmoil, Prime Minster Essam Sharaf ordered the reopening of the market for trade on Wednesday under a new acting chairman.
The market fell more than 20 percent during the protests, and the government was reluctant to reopen it because of objections made by small investors concerned about falling share prices.
Al-Ahram said that Sharaf appointed Mohamed Abdel Salam, chairman of Egypt's depositary agency, to act as bourse chairman for six months after the resignation of the bourse's previous chairman, Khaled Serry Seyam.
"The prime minister calls on citizens to participate in a positive way after the opening of the stock exchange," the paper wrote.
Al-Akhbar warned that if the Egyptian investors refrained from investing in the bourse, the Egyptian economy might become vulnerable to unknown foreign investors who could control the market.
The paper quoted financial expert Saladin Haider, who said the economic atmosphere in Egypt is positive because the corruption cases in the former regime hadn't affected strong economic sectors such as communications and banking.
However, Ahmed Helmy, another financial expert quoted by Al-Akhbar, argued that the companies in general would start in their trades carefully because of the political turmoil that is taking place in the whole region.
Egypt's papers:
Al-Ahram: Daily, state-run, largest distribution in Egypt
Al-Akhbar: Daily, state-run, second to Al-Ahram in institutional size
Al-Gomhorriya: Daily, state-run
Rose al-Youssef: Daily, state-run
Al-Dostour: Daily, privately owned
Al-Shorouk: Daily, privately owned
Al-Wafd: Daily, published by the liberal Wafd Party
Al-Arabi: Weekly, published by the Arab Nasserist party
Youm7: Weekly, privately owned
Sawt al-Umma: Weekly, privately owned
