Main focus of Monday, June 25, 2012

Islamist Mursi is Egypt's new president

Mursi's supporters celebrate on Cairo's Tahrir Square on Sunday. (© AP/dapd)

The Muslim Brother Mohammed Mursi has won the presidential elections in Egypt, the country's electoral commission announced on Sunday, one week after the run-off vote. The power of the country's first democratically elected president will be restricted by the military council, some commentators lament. Others see the military as an important counterweight to the forces of religion.

Presidential election a farce

The moderate Islamist Mohammed Mursi is Egypt's first freely elected president. However the daily Le Soir does not see the presidential elections as a victory for democracy: "Have we witnessed the triumph of nascent Egyptian democracy after the revolution in 2011? Unfortunately not! Just a fateful farce. The judges, especially on the Constitutional Court, who were all named during the Mubarak era, have taken very serious decisions. ... Above all to dissolve the country's first democratically elected parliament. The army then seized all power. What will Mohammed Mursi do with this poisoned gift? One may assume that he will attempt to establish a government of unity. But he risks being sabotaged by the 'deep state', as people say in Egypt: the security forces, the army, the bureaucracy, all of which have a keen interest in him failing." (25/06/2012)

» full article (external link, French)
More from the press review on the subject » Elections, » Egypt
All available articles from » Baudouin Loos
Who's saying what » Arabs fight for freedom

Military still pulls the strings

The Muslim Brother Mohammed Mursi has become Egypt's new president. But in the background the military continues to pull the strings, which may be a good thing for the non-religious forces in the country for the time being, the liberal-conservative daily Die Presse notes: "The army had a double strategy right from the start. Firstly, it wanted to protect its long tentacles, which reach deep into the economy, the judiciary and other areas of influence from the citizens' access. Secondly, the military is obviously determined not to give the Islamists free rein. … Constructing such a fortress to prevent the Islamists from assuming total power makes sense as long as the rights of the seculars are not anchored in a constitution. To trust the Muslim Brothers or even the Salafists here would be naïve. But it is no longer possible to force Mursi and his men to go underground. … They must be given the opportunity to break their own spell, without presenting them the state on a silver tray. This is the only raison d'être for the army's transitional function, at least until the democratic liberties are enshrined in a new constitution. But it would also be naïve to assume that the army doesn't have an agenda that goes beyond this." (25/06/2012)

» full article (external link, German)
More from the press review on the subject » Religion, » Elections, » Egypt
All available articles from » Christian Ultsch
Who's saying what » Arabs fight for freedom

Mursi must reform the economy

After winning the presidential elections Mohammed Mursi must now above all rebuild the country's economy which suffered greatly during the Arab Spring, writes the left-liberal daily The Independent: "For all the jubilation, Egypt's challenges are far from over. ... Not the least of Mr Morsi's immediate priorities is the poor state of the economy. The turmoil of the last 16 months has been devastating: tourism has slumped, foreign exchanges reserves are dwindling, and the government's finances are in dire straits. Meanwhile, unemployment is high and rising, particularly among young people. Near the top of Mr Morsi's agenda, therefore, must be the International Monetary Fund support turned down by the military council last year. But over the longer term, alongside such concerns as healthcare and education, the new President will need to institute wide-ranging economic reforms to tackle the sclerosis caused by decades of cronyism." (25/06/2012)

» full article (external link, English)
More from the press review on the subject » Elections, » Egypt
Who's saying what » Arabs fight for freedom

» To the complete press review of Monday, June 25, 2012