Jun 25, 2012
Source: Press TV
Egypt’s new President Mohamed Morsi has called on all Egyptians to unite and says the revolution, which ousted former dictator Hosni Mubarak in February 2011, will continue.
"I will be a president for all Egyptians," Morsi said just hours after he was declared the winner the Egyptian presidential election, adding that national unity "is the only way out of these difficult times.".
Earlier in the day, after days of delay, the Supreme Presidential Electoral Commission (SPEC) announced Morsi as the winner of the county’s presidential runoff.
Press TV has conducted an interview with Nii Akuetteh, African policy analyst from Washington, to further discuss the issue. The following is a rough transcription of the interview.
Press TV: International reactions are pouring in, as we’ve just reported. The US has expressed its desire for Morsi to continue with Egypt's past policies within the region. The new president is going to be under a lot of pressure now, isn’t he to do so?
Akuetteh: Yes, but the US statement also said that it wanted him to respect the right of all Egyptians and to govern them democratically. You are absolutely right; there are a whole lot of demands on him.
As I read the election results and the reaction inside Egypt itself, there are different groups. I think that he is going to have a number of things to juggle with, a number of pressures both internally and from the outside.
Press TV: A lot is not clear yet but Morsi has now said that he will continue to honor all previous agreements, and this is probably going to include the Camp David Agreement with Israel. How will this go down with the Egyptian people considering the Camp David agreement has been a source of dissatisfaction on the part of Egyptians and the Palestinian cause is very much close to the hearts of most Egyptians?
Akuetteh: I agree completely with you that that is on the minds of Egyptians. However, because number one, he wouldn’t be governor even with the constitution -- Egypt doesn’t have a constitution. The constitution assembly has been dissolved by the military junta and you don’t have a normal legislature.
Down the road in months to come and years to come when you have a functioning parliament, that is a direct will for the Egyptian people to put pressure on their government directly. Until you have that form of legislature and government, then it will just be what people say in the streets and newspaper and when they march. Then you will have different factions contending.
It’s going to be touch and go for a while until we have an electoral legislature and the military’s powers have been curtailed.
Press TV: We’ll get back to the question of the constitution but there are rulers at the moment that the Muslim Brotherhood is negotiating a power sharing deal with the ruling generals. There is no doubt that the new president will have to negotiate his way with SCAF, but what kind of agreement do you think they'll reach?
Akuetteh: That is hard to tell because I think both of them will keep their eyes on people in the street. I think that the military, the SCAF, would like to keep as much power as possible, but I also think that they understand they don’t have a mandate. Nobody has elected them and over 30 million people, the voters, the majority of Egyptians have just elected Mr. Morsi.
Therefore, I think the military will be careful about wanting to push him around. They like the keep power so in the negotiation I expected them to be keeping an eye on what the people are saying, how much they can get away with.
I will be watching closely to see what kind of deal they come up with. Of course, you know that there are a number of issues that they are fighting over, when Mr. Morsi will be sworn in and then the decrees that just came in allocating certain powers to him. A number of things they will negotiate and fight about and it bears watching.
Press TV: Morsi did make a lot of promises during his campaign and also in his address tonight. As you mentioned, there is no constitution in place and you said this will give very little space to maneuver, but just elaborate for our viewers a bit more about how much will he be able to deliver on some of the most fundamental promises he made during his campaign?
Akuetteh: Every leader in every country, their own political skills are important but especially in the case of Egypt now where, number one, you don’t have a constitution and a former government, and even the court is suspect because it was appointed by former President Mubarak. Then you have the SCAF.
Without those former institutions, I think a lot would depend on Mr. Morsi’s personal political skills. I think he has started well because yes it is true that he made a lot of promises but generally in elections that’s what politicians have to do.
People look at their promises especially in a place like Egypt where we are having real democratic elections really for the first time. What happened under former President Mubarak, nobody really took them seriously as elections.
The populace are going to look at what is he saying; he’s saying the right things. Today, when it was announced, Sunday, when his victory was announced, his certain speech, he also said the right thing, so that is good.
You are right in saying that politicians and leaders saying one thing and another, what they actually do is important. I’m saying, therefore, that his skills at negotiating, at appealing to people, at bringing people and forming coalitions, reassuring both internal groups inside Egypt as well as how he talks to the international community.
By the way, we must remember he got part of his education in the United States and he lived in the United States, worked for NASA and was a professor, so he understands the American system much better than most people will suspect.
Therefore, I expect him to deal with the international issues quite carefully. I’m not saying he won’t have challenges but he appears to have some very good political skills.
GMA/HGH
No comments:
Post a Comment