The Brotherhood's Morsi: A revolutionary candidate?

In light of Mohamed Morsi's apparent electoral victory, revolutionary forces mull backing Brotherhood candidate given 'constitutional addendum' sorely limiting powers of Egypt's new president-elect

Preliminary results in Egypt's presidential elections appear to put Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi in the lead. The situation, however, remains fluid, with Mubarak-era premier Ahmed Shafiq also claiming victory.
Many revolutionary forces, meanwhile, don't see Morsi's apparent presidential triumph as a victory for Egypt's revolution.
This view of Egypt's first post-Mubarak presidential race has been compounded by the ruling military council's issuance of anaddendum to last year's Constitutional Declarationlate Sunday, only hours after polling stations closed, giving it a spate of supra-constitutional powers.
Mohamed Waked, member of the National Front for Justice and Democracy, which boycotted the elections, said that the only positive outcome of this election was that it reflected "how the counter-revolution had failed." He pointed to the fact that close to half of Egypt's eligible voters had not participated in the process, suggesting that a significant number of these had done so as a means of making a political statement.
A 'boycott' camp had called on voters not to take part in the elections, not because of the candidates, but to oppose the principle of holding elections under military rule.
Further, the choice between former regime member Shafiq and Morsi – whose Muslim Brotherhood has been criticised for its undemocratic post-revolution performance in the last 16 months – represented an impossible choice for many.
Waked further claimed that a Morsi victory had been largely expected, and this became evident following the dissolution of parliament. "The incoming president will take office with no clear mandate," he said. "This allows the SCAF to dominate all branches of power and tailor the constitution they want."
Much will be expected of Morsi. Waked stated that the Brotherhood candidate would be expected to push through a set of demands. The least of these demands, he clarified, would be a refusal to take the presidential oath of office in front of Egypt's High Constitutional Court, as was stipulated by the Supreme Presidential Electoral Commission (SPEC) on Saturday, following the dissolution of parliament.
There will also be other significant demands, such as promises to release the thousands of political prisoners detained since the January 25 Revolution.
"We will settle for nothing less; if it isn't a win-win situation, then the Brotherhood will be made to stand without the support of our revolutionary forces," Waked said.
After the first round of the presidential election, several political and revolutionary forces – including former presidential candidate Abdel-Moneim Abul-Fotouh and the April 6 Youth Movement – threw their weight behind Morsi against Shafiq.
Others toyed with the possibility. A number of liberal parties drafted ‘the Document of the Pledge' –a 22-article promise to ensure a civic state and "protect the 2011 uprising" in return for supporting either candidate. Neither candidate, however, signed on to the document.
Leftist activist Wael Khalil, a member of the Abul-Fotouh campaign who announced his support for Morsi days before the runoff, claims there is a "general sense of happiness" among several revolutionary forces.
"This is not necessarily due to the success of Morsi per se, but, more importantly, as a blow to the forces of the former regime," Khalil said.
Following first-round election results, the Brotherhood candidate was seen by many revolutionaries as the "lesser of two evils," standing against "counter-revolutionary" candidate Shafiq, who served as the overthrown president's last prime minister during last year's 18-day uprising.
Khalil further clarified that, with Morsi's victory, revolutionary forces did not necessarily win, but rather succeeded in overcoming one of the many obstacles on the long road to democratisation and transition to civilian rule.
April 6 member Ahmed Bermawy said that, even though Morsi would never be regarded as a "revolutionary" candidate, he could nevertheless partially protect the revolutionary current.
He also suggested that it had become clear to the Brotherhood that it could not work on its own, and that they needed the support of revolutionary forces. He went on to say that the struggle in the upcoming period would be against SCAF dominance, a common objective of both the revolutionaries and Brotherhood alike. This is especially so, Bermawy said, given the president's weak mandate under the new constitutional addendum.
"We will continue to use the street as a means of pushing for Morsi's powers and pressuring the SCAF to loosen its grip. After this, we will pressure Morsi himself to realise the revolution's demands," Bermawy said.
He also listed major demands to be made of Morsi, including a retrial of all police officers acquitted of charges of killing protesters during last year's uprising, and a timeline by which revolutionary demands must be realised. The latter, said Bermawy, include the implementation of a minimum and maximum wage, in addition to social security and health insurance benefits.
In the meantime, SCAF General Adel El-Aasar stated at a Monday press conference that the council would hand over power to a civilian government by the end of June in a "grand ceremony." At the conference, El-Aasar sought to downplay criticism that the SCAF – through its new constitutional addendum – aimed to usurp the powers from the incoming president.
According to anofficial timetable laid down by the SPEC, final results of the presidential runoff will be formally announced on Thursday.
According to preliminary results, Morsi leads with 51.89 per cent of the vote, while Shafiq stands at 48.10 per cent – this despite claims by the latter's campaign that their candidate had in fact won 52 per cent.
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