Morsi win in Egypt hands Islamists a potent weapon
CAIRO—Egypt’s military rulers on Sunday officially recognized Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood as the winner of Egypt’s first competitive presidential election, handing the Islamists both a symbolic triumph and a potent weapon in their struggle for power against the country’s top generals.
Morsi, 60, an American-trained engineer and former lawmaker, is the first Islamist elected as head of an Arab state. He becomes Egypt’s fifth president and the first from outside the military. But his victory, 16 months after the military took over on the ouster of Hosni Mubarak, is an ambiguous milestone in Egypt’s promised transition to democracy.
Following a week of doubt, delays and fears of a coup after a public count showed Morsi winning, the generals showed a measure of respect for at least some core elements of electoral democracy by accepting the victory of a political opponent over their ally, the former air force general Ahmed Shafiq.
“Today, you are the source of power, as the whole world sees,” Morsi said, pointing into the television camera, during his victory speech.
Morsi’s status as president-elect, however, does little to resolve the larger standoff between the generals and the Brotherhood over the institutions of government and the future constitution. Two weeks before June 30, their promised date to hand over power, the generals instead shut down the democratically elected and Islamist-led Parliament; took over its powers to make laws and set budgets; decreed an interim constitution stripping the incoming president of most of his powers; and reimposed martial law by authorizing soldiers to arrest civilians. In the process, the generals gave themselves, in effect, a veto over provisions of a planned permanent constitution.
For much of Sunday, the capital was tense with apprehension that the panel of Mubarak-appointed judges overseeing the election might annul the ballot count and declare Shafiq the president, completing a full military coup. Banks, schools and government offices closed early for fear of violence.
Tens of thousands of Brotherhood supporters and their allies against military rule gathered in Tahrir Square for the sixth day of a sit-in, demanding that the military roll back its power grab. Around 3:30 p.m., hushed crowds gathered around portable radios to hear the election commissioner’s rambling introduction of the official result.
Then they leapt to their feet: Morsi had won 51.7 percent of the runoff votes.
“Morsi, Morsi!,” the crowd chanted. “Down, down with military rule!”
Smiling riot police put down their helmets to exchange congratulations with bearded protesters. Beaming Brotherhood supporters streamed in, swelling the crowd to perhaps 100,000 by nightfall. In a carnival atmosphere, fireworks were set off and vendors hawked cotton candy or threw pieces of fruit into the laughing crowd.
After 84 years as a secret society struggling in the prisons and shadows of monarchs and dictators, the Brotherhood is now closer than ever to its stated goal of building an Islamist democracy in Egypt.
“In my dreams I wanted this to happen, but it is unbelievable,” said Hudaida Hassan, a 20-year-old from Menoufiya who was rejoicing in the square.
Brotherhood leaders emphasized that their struggle was far from over. They promised to continue the sit-in and fight on in the courts and the streets to reinstate the Parliament. In his short first statement as president-elect, Morsi vowed to take the oath of office before the reseated Parliament, and not the Supreme Constitutional Court, as the generals had decreed.
Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the chairman of the military council, congratulated Morsi. The official presidential guard, which once protected Mubarak, arrived at Morsi’s home to take up their new role. Until 16 months ago, their ap- pearance at the home of a Brotherhood leader could only mean a trip to one of Mubarak’s jails. Morsi himself was jailed for a period in 2008 and again during the revolt last year against Mubarak.
State television, long a wellspring of propaganda against the Brotherhood, broadcast Morsi’s victory speech on Sunday. In it, he pledged repeatedly to be “a president for all Egyptians.” He quoted the first Muslim caliph to describe his authority in Islamic terms, but he also extended a hand to Egypt’s large Coptic Christian minority, many of whom remain dubious of him.
“We as Egyptians, Muslims and Christians, are preachers of civilization and building; so we were, and so we will remain, God willing,” he said. “We will face together the strife and conspiracies that target our national unity.
“We are all equal in rights, and we all have duties toward this homeland,” he added. “But for me, I have no rights, I have only duties.” He also repeated his pledge to uphold all international agreements, an apparent reference to Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel.
The Coptic Church formally congratulated him, calling the election a victory for democracy.
Fulfilling a campaign promise, Morsi resigned on Sunday from the Brotherhood and its political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party. He is expected to appoint a prime minister and Cabinet in the next few days. He has promised that the prime minister and an advisory council would come from outside the Brotherhood as part of a unity government based on a rebuilt alliance with liberals and other secular activists.
At the same time, however, Morsi has always campaigned not as an individual with a vision of his own but rather as an executor of the Brotherhood’s platform. He was the group’s second-choice nominee, put forward after the disqualification of its leading strategist and most influential leader, Khairat elShater. Morsi, a close friend and protege of Shater, has vowed to carry out the “renaissance” program Shater devised to overhaul Egypt’s ministries. The two did little to dispel the assertions of critics that Shater and the Brotherhood’s board would wield the true power in a Morsi government.
Even after the two-month presidential campaign, Morsi remains an unfamiliar figure to most Egyptians. He was living and working in Los Angeles during the tumultuous period after Islamic militants assassinated Anwar Sadat and his successor, Mubarak, cracked down on the Brotherhood.