Will Egypt's first democratically elected president pursue democracy?
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Will Egypt's first democratically elected president pursue democracy?
Trudy Rubin, Inquirer Opinion Columnist
The crowd in Tahrir Square that cheered today’s victory by Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Morsi in a presidential run off, didn’t represent a majority of Egyptians. His triumph is both a victory - and a potential disaster - for democracy, and for Egypt.
It is a victory, because Morsi is now the first democratically elected president of Egypt. A member of a once banned Islamist group, he won the vote by a narrow 51.7 per cent last week. Despite speculation that the Egyptian military would overturn that result, the Egyptian Election Commission finally declared the winner today.
But Morsi’s win is no guarantee of democracy’s triumph. Most of the crowd today in Tahrir Square were members of the Brotherhood’s core supporters, many bused in from the countryside. But the group’s sectarian behavior in parliament, after winning a dominant 47 per cent of the parliamentary seats last year, sharply diminished its popularity among a broad expanse of Egyptians.
The Brotherhood tried to monopolize all power in parliament, and to squeeze out other voices in writing a new constitution. It alienated moderate Muslims, seculars, many women, and Christians. In the first round of presidential elections, in May, Morsi won only around 25 per cent of the vote, half of what the Brotherhood received in the parliamentary ballot. In that first round, moderates and seculars split 50 per cent of total votes cast between several other candidates; had they targeted their vote for one candidate, Morsi would have lost.
Instead, in the runoff election, voters were left with a choice between Morsi and Ahmed Shafiq, the candidate favored by the military; the final result was more a rejection of Shafiq than an endorsement of Morsi. The military probably recognized this, which is why it decided to respect the results.
But the generals have already moved to cut the Brotherhood down to size: just before last week’s election, the military dismissed parliament, following a decision by a constitutional court (whose members were appointed under the old regime) that the election law was unconstitutional. This sets up a future struggle between the Brotherhood and the military,
The Brotherhood must now choose: Will Morsi push to enshrine specifics of sharia law in the constitution, which most Egyptians either oppose or believe isn’t necessary? Will he endorse discriminatory laws against women, and terrify Christians, as Brotherhood-dominated parliament did last year?
If so, the country will remain unstable, while Christians, and foreign investment, flee. And the military’s hand will be strengthened in efforts to curb the Brotherhood’s power. But if Morsi grasps that he and his organization need to change course, curb their Islamist zeal, and form broad political coalitions, the process of building an Egyptian democracy may continue. And the Egyptian military will have to behave with more caution.
With a mindset born of decades working underground, and years in prison, Morsi and the Brotherhood leadership may not be able of changing. If so, his election will mark a setback, not an advance, in Egyptian’s struggle for democracy and a better life.
ama, Since the time of those occupying the pyramids, egypt has been a purveyor of tyranny, be it at thehands of pharoahs or Nasser or the cold brotherhood's blooded murder of Sadat. As Yul Bryner, AKA Rameses, once said, "Let it be said, let it be done!" That, my ignoble friend, is your legacy!— lefty- @ama1001... Those evil Israelis. They attacked peaceful Egyptians, while they were celebrating their most important Holiday of the year in order to destroy Egypt. Oh, wait, it was the other way around. It was the Egypt, along with Syria who did that. They got their butts beaten so bad, it took American intervention to save them from the total defeat. Years later, Israel gave Sinai back to Egypt in exchange for so called peace. And you have "balls" to blame them for all the Middle East problems. Arabs are sheep, guided by hate for all civilized/non-Muslim. So don't spew your propaganda here - you are among people who know Word's history. We are not as easy to fool.— hollandpa
- Trudy's funny!— phillydaveaml
- ama1001,
You go to hell. i know many Coptics that are my friends and they live here in the states now and tell me of horror stories about the muslim brotherhood blowing of their church's and killing them. It is no secret that this happens and do you really think that now that the Brotherhood is now in power that it will subside? You also talk of "Isreali Tyranny"? Against Egyptians? Please elaborate.— Phishface
