Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice
Party (FJP) leader Mohammed Morsi has won the presidential election runoff, defeating
the independent candidate Ahmed Shafik, the last prime minister to the deposed
dictator Hosni Mubarak, with 13.2 million votes out of 26 million, a share of
51.2 per cent on a turnout of just over 50 per cent.
However, the outcome of the election does
not settle the standoff between the Brotherhood and the ruling Supreme Council
of the Armed Forces (SCAF), which did not even wait for the result before
taking a series of steps which some Egyptians have called a constitutional
obscenity. One crucial move was made by the constitutional court, made up of
judges from the time of Mubarak, which unilaterally dissolved the national
parliament. That body – elected between November 2011 and March 2012 in Egypt
Armed
Forces’ Tradition Broken
Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi will
not enjoy the extent of modern, pharaonic powers exercised by Mubarak: those
have been curtailed by a military establishment which will decide just how much
he will be able to do in government.
Still, the US-trained engineer's victory
in the country's first free presidential election breaks a tradition of
domination by men from the armed forces, which have provided every Egyptian
leader since overthrow of the monarchy 60 years ago, and installs in office a
group that drew on 84 years of grassroots activism to catapult Morsi into
presidency.
First
Civilian Head of State
An engineer turned politician, Mohammed Morsi has
come a long way to become the first freely elected President of Egypt that saw
its strongman Hosni Mubarak being ousted in what is now famously called Arab
Spring. Although, not their first choice as a presidential candidate, the
powerful Muslim Brotherhood threw its weight behind Morsi, 60, the chairman of
its FJP. A champion of Brotherhood's famous slogan - "Islam is the
solution" - Morsi describes its policies as having "a moderate
Islamic reference". A more quietly-spoken man, Morsi got the support of
Brotherhood's grassroots network and what is often referred to as an highly
organized campaign team.
Morsi’s win in an election widely seen as
free and fair suggests that the 84-year-old Islamist group — which began as a
secret outfit, often resorted to violence and was continually suppressed and
driven underground — remains Egypt’s most influential party, drawing its
support from all corners of society.
On the one hand he has been directly
chosen by the people, but on the other there are fears that his regime may
sooner than later push the country to a hard line form of Islamic rule. Since
it is too early to speculate with any amount of certainty, it is better to
simply use the material at hand and peep into the possibilities ahead.
To begin
with, Morsi is Egypt New Delhi India
New
Prez’s Manifesto
Morsi has promised a moderate, modern
Islamist agenda to steer Egypt
Yet the stocky, bespectacled 60-year old,
appears something of an accidental president: he was only flung into the race
at the last moment by the disqualification on a technicality of Khairat
al-Shater, by far the group's preferred choice.
With a stiff and formal style, Morsi, who
has a doctorate from the University
of Southern California
However, questions remain over the extent
to which Morsi will operate independently of other Brotherhood leaders once in
office: his manifesto was drawn up by the group's policymakers. The role Shater
might play has been one focus of debate in Egypt
Undoubtedly, the historic nature of the
win can hardly be underestimated. Given Egypt ’s
size, historical importance and cultural and political preeminence in the
Arabic-speaking world, it is not unlikely that an Islamist democracy advocated
by the FJP, the Brotherhood’s political wing that Morsi led to a signal
victory, can potentially become a model for West Asia and North
Africa .
Future Equation
The FJP has been issuing statements that it proposes
to offer a liberal regime and honor past accords and agreements. Morsi is also reported
to have emphasized over and over again that he would ensure that international
commitments agreed on are not dismantled. This is good news, but the challenge
for the new president will be to implement his promise in the face of pressures
that he is certainly going to face from hard line factions within his party and
others as well to chart a new and probably more confrontationist course of
action.
The victory of the Islamists, whose offshoot HAMAS
rules in Gaza Strip (also having got there through an election), cannot but be bad
news for Israel, which has operated a peace agreement with Egypt’s military
rulers since the days of Anwar Sadat, and whose political position has defined
the conflict in the region for 60 years.
For the millions of Egyptians who endured savage
repression for decades and then brutal violence when they rose against the
erstwhile dictatorship in 2011, the democratic election of a president is a
major step forward.
Indications of the past days are that Morsi will use
moderate Islam as a reference in framing his policies. He can do otherwise only
at the cost of alienating Egypt’s existing and potential allies across the
world and destabilizing the uneasy peace that exists between the Arab world and
Israel.
