The Muslim Brotherhood emerged as the biggest winner in this week's reshuffle of provincial governors. On 16 June President Mohamed Morsi decided that the group from which he hails should receive the lion's share of provincial governorates. Of 17 new governors appointed by Morsi, nine hail from the Muslim Brotherhood or are Brotherhood sympathisers. A member of Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya's Construction and Development Party was appointed, as was a representative of Ayman Nour's Ghad Al-Thawra, long viewed as the Brotherhood's pet opposition party. Half of Egypt's 28 provincial governorates are now in the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood or its allies. Seven military officials were also appointed provincial governors. Shaaban Abdel-Alim, a leading Nour Party official, told Al-Ahram Weekly that his Salafist party had rejected an offer from Morsi to appoint some of its officials to governorships. “We told him that the government of Prime Minister Hisham Kandil is weak and unpopular and that it would be a huge political risk for the Nour to be associated with it,” said Abdel-Alim, “We had hoped that the reshuffle of provincial governors would be postponed till after 30 June. Morsi's determination to Brotherhoodise governorates will only further antagonise opposition forces and make them more determined to organise protests.” Gharbiya and Menoufiya, which rejected Morsi by large margins during last year's presidential election and which also voted “no” to the new constitution in a referendum last December, now have Brotherhood governors. The nine new Brotherhood governors are Adel Abdel- Moneim, Gaber Attia and Salah Abdel-Meguid in Beni Sweif, Fayoum and Qena; and Ahmed Shaarawi, Hossam Abu Bakr, Ahmed Al-Biali, Osama Suleiman and Sobhi Attia in Menoufiya, Qalioubiya, Gharbiya, Beheira and Daqahliya. This leaves most anti-Morsi Nile Delta governorates in the hands of the Brotherhood. Maher Beibars, the new governor of Alexandria, is considered by most commentators as a Brotherhood sympathiser. The most controversial appointment is that of Adel Al-Khayat, a leading official of Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya which masterminded the assassination of late president Anwar Al-Sadat and was responsible for the massacre of 58 tourists at Luxor's Hatshepsut temple in 1997, as governor of Luxor. The appointment is clearly a reward for Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya's Construction and Development Party which has supported Morsi since he came to power in 2012. “Choosing Al-Khayat as governor of Luxor shows that Morsi's regime has lost its mind,” says Mounir Fakhri Abdel-Nour, a former minister of tourism and a secretary-general of the Wafd Party. “The appointment of Al-Khayat is not only a reward for Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya but an appeal to the group to mobilise behind Morsi against any protests on 30 June.” Experts on political Islam, including Al-Ahram analyst and Chairman of the Press Syndicate Diaa Rashwan, told a television talk show on Monday that Al-Khayat is a former Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya militant who had participated in the massacre of tourists in Luxor. News of Al-Khayat's appointment met with protests in Luxor as people took to the streets on Monday and Tuesday. In a statement on Tuesday, Al-Khayat said he had no involvement in the 1997 mass murder of tourists and that he would do his best to promote tourism in Luxor. He also claimed never to have been detained, though it has emerged he was incarcerated for a year following the assassination of Sadat. Under Hosni Mubarak most border governorates were left in the hands of military officials. Tarek Al-Mahdi, Badr Tantawi, Mohamed Khalifa and Ismail Attia are the new governors of Marsa Matrouh, the Red Sea, Al-Wadi Al-Gadid and Aswan. Electrical engineer Hassan Rifaa and army Major General Samah Kandil were appointed governors of the Suez Canal governorates of Ismailia and Port Said and former army Major General Tarek Fathallah, a member of the Ghad Al-Thawra Party, is now governor of Damietta. Nile Delta governorates witnessed protests and minor clashes within hours of the new governors being sworn in on Sunday. In Daqahliya small groups of citizens organised marches against the new governor, Sobhi Attia, a member of the Brotherhood's Guidance Bureau and the group's former spokesperson in the governorate. The Freedom and Justice Party's official Facebook page announced that its office in Daqahliya's Meit Salsil village had been attacked by “thugs”. In Fayoum bloody clashes erupted between the public and Brotherhood activists. Injured citizens told television channels on Monday that Brotherhood members were well armed. The clashes left 60 injured. Gamal Zahran, professor of political science at Suez Canal University, said “Morsi's insistence on Brotherhoodising provincial governorates is tantamount to pouring oil on fire.” “Egyptians revolted against Mubarak because of his party's monopoly on power and a policy of marginalising the opposition. Now Morsi is treading the same path. Since he came to office in June 2012, supported by the Americans and the post-Mubarak ruling military council, Morsi has been determined to promote the Brotherhood to all positions of power.” Faced with growing protests, says Zahran, Morsi has adopted a double-edged policy, toeing Washington's line while mobilising the forces of political Islam against the secular opposition. “On the first front,” says Zahran, “Morsi decided to cut relations with the Syrian regime of Bashar Al-Assad and declare his support for Washington's no-fly zone. At the same time, he is placing Brotherhood members in positions where they can quash democratic protests and interfere in elections.” Brotherhood officials retort that anti-Morsi protests are being promoted by Mubarak-era remnants. “The Tamarod campaign is coordinating with former National Democratic Party officials who lost their privileges and want to recover power,” claims leading Brotherhood official Gamal Heshmat.
