For the first time in the history of Egypt, a democratically elected president is in charge. That is none other than Dr Muhammad Morsi Isa al-Ayyat, an engineer, academic, politician, and a respected member of a long-time conservative religious movement, the Muslim Brotherhood.
Dr Morsi, 60, a former engineering professor at Zagazig University whose faculty he joined in 1985, has so far proved to be the smart guy that Egypt needs. The way he ran his presidential campaign, his approach in crafting his domestic and foreign policies, and his well-calculated move to grab power from the military without angering them, brings optimism that Egypt is on the right track.
So far Egypt hasn’t really proved that a classic revolution has already taken place, but with Dr Morsi in the driving seat hope is emerging that eventually Egyptians may call the whole circus that started February last year a true revolution. Why? It is because the military, which is the most powerful institution in the Egyptian polity, is still in control.
After a June 24 announcement by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces that he had won the election by 51.7 per cent against former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq’s 48.3 per cent in the run-off, Dr Morsi didn’t threaten anyone inside or outside Egypt, and by June 27 he was already talking to religious leaders.
Not many people may know this, but apart from being a powerful Muslim nation and a leader in Arab socio-cultural affairs such as the movie industry, music, education, and the likes, Egypt is also the headquarters of the world Coptic Church with a pope sitting in Cairo, officially known as the Archbishop of Alexandria. This makes religious leaders in the secular state of Egypt an important factor in the stabilization project considering the fact that of recently things have not been so calm between Egyptians of different faiths. The president-elect has also met the families of the martyrs who died during the 2011 revolution that ousted despot Hosni Mubarak.
Dr Morsi is now faced with a tough reality which saw the military council disbanding the Islamist-dominated parliament following a court order issued earlier this month. That order allowed the military to assume legislative powers, even forming a national security council headed by the president, but dominated by army generals.
Furthermore, should the court decide to disband the constituent assembly elected by the parliament, the military will exercise its powers to appoint a new one. The court is expected to announce its ruling on September 1. However, the Muslim Brotherhood has already made it clear that the military cannot appoint a constituent assembly at this crucial time when the new Egypt is going through democratization.
But the president-elect is happy to have received a court decision, practically a blow to the military council, which suspends military powers to arrest civilians. Should the judiciary prove to the Egyptians that it can work independently, then Dr Morsi will have an easy way at least when it comes to legal matters.
Amidst all these challenges, Dr Morsi’s policy adviser, Ahmed Deif, this week told CNN that the president-elect will pick a woman and a Christian as his two vice presidents. This step will be another proof that he is the president of all Egyptians.
As he promised, Dr Morsi assured Egyptians of his loyalty to the country by quitting his position as the Chairman of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) immediately upon winning his presidential election. FJP was formed by the Muslim Brotherhood in 2011to make sure that one of their own becomes the first civilian president of Egypt.
Dr Morsi, who served as an independent member of parliament between 2000 and 2005, is an Egyptian and American-trained engineer who received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in engineering from Cairo University in 1975 and 1978 respectively. He then received an engineering doctoral degree from the University of Southern California in 1982, where he also taught until 1985.
Dr Morsi has so far promised to respect all international agreements, which include the 1979 peace accord between Israel and Egypt, but there is no automatic assurance that he will continue to help Americans in their cold-war against Iran and the much-talked-about war on terror. That so far is a headache for the Americans.
The Egyptian military wants to maintain control of at least three key ministries, that is, interior, justice and defense, and this not mentioning the national security council and the whole process of remaking the constitutional assembly.
It remains to be seen what Dr Morsi will do to change Egypt. In any case, this is a new Egypt and we hope that the Western powers will respect the will of the Egyptian people who elected the man known for saying “Islam is the solution,” presumably to the problems facing Egyptians.
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