First Washington Post
Mohamed Morsi named new Egyptian president
CAIRO — Egypt’s electoral commission announced Sunday that Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi would be sworn in as president, becoming the Arab world’s first elected Islamist head of state after more than a year of popular uprisings that ousted autocrats and fueled the rise of political Islam in the region.
Although Egypt’s ruling generals blunted the power of the presidency shortly after polls closed last weekend, Morsi’s victory represented a remarkable turn of fortunes. The organization was outlawed and systematically suppressed for decades, including under the three-decade regime of deposed former president Hosni Mubarak.
Election officials said Morsi beat former Mubarak prime minister Ahmed Shafiq, whom he had faced in a runoff. Presidential election commission chief Farouk Sultan said Morsi won by a slim margin, winning almost 52 percent of votes cast.
Egypt’s presidential election commission had been expected to announce the winner Thursday, but the proclamation was delayed, Sultan said, due to a meticulous review of complaints of election violations. Complaints included reported attempts to prevent Christians from reaching polling stations and fraudulent ballots.
As soon as the news of Morsi’s victory broke Sunday, Brotherhood supporters in Tahrir Square erupted in cheers and fired off a flurry of firecrackers. Egyptians flooded in on foot, motorcycles and cars. Morsi supporters embraced and danced to an near-deafening soundtrack of honking and cheers and euphoric crowds shouted “Down with military rule!”
Karim Ahmed, 23, was wrapped in a Morsi poster.
“Injustice can never come back,” he said. “This is the choice of the people!”
Even those who were lukewarm to Morsi were excited that the country had had a free vote.
“It’s a reality now, said Mohammed Said, 32, a sweat drenched flag vendor in the square.
A Morsi loss could have generated serious political instability; Brotherhood supporters had vowed to continue their demonstrations if that was the outcome, saying it would have amounted to electoral theft.
Not long after he was declared the winner, the Brotherhood’s official Twitter account tweeted that Morsi had begun “talks to form his presidential team and a new cabinet that will truly represent Egypt after revolution.” Morsi had sought in recent days to gain the confidence of liberal and secular factions, promising a “broad coalition government” that would preserve the rights of women and Christians.
But the terms under which Morsi will hold office, and the sway his Islamist supporters will have, remain uncertain. The announcement capped a week of intrigue and rumors about whether the country’s ruling generals were seeking to broker a power-sharing deal with the Brotherhood before signing off on the 60-year-old group’s electoral victory.
Morsi, a U.S.-educated engineer, became the Brotherhood’s candidate after the group’s top choice was disqualified from the race. Morsi will immediately assume a role that was emasculated in a constitutional decree issued by the country’s military leaders shortly after the polls closed on June 17. The document made the incoming president subservient to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which will continue to operate without oversight.
Because the Brotherhood-dominated parliament was recently dissolved by the military after a court ruling, Morsi will remain in the short term the sole counterweight to the generals. Although the role of the presidency could be further altered once a new constitution is written in the coming months, Morsi is expected to have at least some significant powers in the short term. He will probably appoint a new cabinet that would dislodge stalwarts of Mubarak’s regime who have held on to powerful posts during the past 17 months of military rule.
Egyptians had awaited Sunday’s announcement with bated breath, fearing that a victory for either candidate could spark unrest and violence. Both candidates have claimed they won and dueling rallies in recent days have been seen of harbingers of a potentially explosive reaction by the losing camp.
Egyptians had awaited Sunday’s announcement with bated breath, fearing that a victory for either candidate could spark unrest and violence. Both candidates have claimed they won and dueling rallies in recent days have been seen of harbingers of a potentially explosive reaction by the losing camp.
The Brotherhood had said Morsi won 53 percent of votes cast in last week’s runoff election against Shafiq. The election commission delayed announcing formal results until Sunday, fueling speculation that the results were being rigged.
In Cairo, public servants were dismissed from work early in the afternoon so they could be home before the announcement, which was scheduled to take place at 3 p.m., but was delayed. Banks and several other businesses closed early. Some foreign-run organizations were asked by embassies to be on alert; a number had updated evacuation plans in the event the coming days turn violent.
Brotherhood supporters have been holding massive rallies in Cairo’s Tahrir Square this week. The events have had a celebratory vibe, but they have also been interpreted as a warning of the kind of street reaction the military could face if Shafiq is proclaimed winner.
Supporters of Shafiq, a former air force chief who served as Mubarak’s last prime minister, has also held victory rallies, most notably a large one Saturday night during which they exalted their candidate and criticized the Brotherhood.
Second the Gurdians
Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi declared president of Egypt
Incoming president Mohamed Morsi assumes office after turbulent weeks that have left post-Mubarak transition in disarray
Mohammed Morsi speaks at his last rally in Cairo, Egypt, before being announced the winner of Egypt's presidential election. Photograph: Fredrik Persson/AP
Mohamed Morsi, an Islamist who once spent time in jail under Hosni Mubarak, was today declared Egypt's first post-revolution president, prompting scenes of rapture in Cairo's Tahrir square and a sense of mild relief from a wider world worried about a protracted political standoff in the Arab world's most populous country.
In a historic announcement that finally installs a successor to Mubarak 16 months after he was ousted, Morsi was given 51.7% of the vote in recent presidential elections – more than 13m votes – to 48.3% for his rival, Ahmed Shafiq. Turnout in the June 16-17 poll was put at 51%.
The election commission's verdict on the second round of voting had been repeatedly delayed, raising fears that the military cabal that has ruled Egypt during its messy transition might be planning another ruse to extend its pre-eminence.
When the final announcement came – after a dense 45-minute preamble from the election chief, Farouk Sultan – it instantly rippled through Tahrir square, setting off fireworks, flag-waving and chants of Allahu Akbar. "Say! Don't fear! The military must go!" crowds chanted.
"We got to this moment because of the blood of the martyrs of the revolution," said Morsi's spokesman Ahmed Abdel-Attie. "Egypt will start a new phase in its history."
It is the first time Egypt will be headed by an Islamist, and the first time a freely elected civilian has come to power in the country.
The incoming president assumes office after a turbulent few weeks that have left Egypt's transition in disarray, with parliament being dissolved by the supreme court and a military-issued constitutional declaration that severely limits presidential powers.
Both sides quarrelled over tactics in the wake of the polls closing. The Muslim Brotherhood announced Morsi as the winner six hours after voting ended, having tabulated the results from the 13,000 polling stations.
The Shafiq campaign responded angrily, claiming its candidate wasactually the one leading the race. The supreme council of the armed forces (Scaf), Egypt's ruling military leadership, waded in, criticising the Brotherhood for its "unjustifiable" premature announcement.
Meanwhile, talk of backroom negotiations between the Muslim Brotherhood and Scaf was confirmed by the group's deputy head, Khairat al-Shater, as the two sides traded barbs over the country's political future. The Muslim Brotherhood held a press conference on Friday in conjunction with liberal forces, during which it attempted to mollify its critics.
Morsi will have much to occupy his first few days of office, encumbered by the overreach of the generals and the divisive nature of Egyptian politics.
"The symbolism of a presidential election victory, particularly for Morsi, will be an achievement in and of itself," said Mike Hanna, a fellow at the Century Foundation thinktank. "But after that initial euphoria has evaporated, he will be faced with difficult circumstances, a tired and impatient nation, and an ongoing struggle for political power."
Tens of thousands of protesters mainly comprising Muslim Brotherhood supporters had been stationed in Tahrir square since last Tuesday, objecting to the court ruling that dissolved the Muslim Brotherhood-dominated parliament the day before the runoff between Shafiq and Morsi.
As polling stations closed the following day, Scaf issued a new constitutional declaration that gave the military far-ranging powers in executive decisions as well as the detainment of civilians.
Also in the balance is the fate of the country's permanent constitution, which has also reverted to the remit of the generals, having been wrestled from the Islamist factions in parliament. The constituent assembly tasked with drafting the constitution is under pressure to deliver quickly, or the military will take over the entire process.
Such a scenario will make for an impossible setting for "thoughtful governance or reform," Hanna said, "If the electoral shifts seen in the first round of the presidential elections are any indication, voter patience and allegiance is quite limited."
Third the Independent
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