After the entire country held its breath for the first half of the day, offices closed at noon and the military, The Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF), prepared to do whatever it could to maintain some level of security. It was finally time to start the announcement for who was going to be the new president of Egypt. After a 45 minutes long speech about the vote counting process as well as different complaints being taking into account, which together made the Presidential Elections Commission (PEC) postpone the announcement from Thursday, June 21 to Sunday, June 24, the Commission finally announced Mohammed Mursi as Egypt’s new president.

Ever since the result of the first election round that announced that the two candidates to continue to the second run off were going to be Mohammed Mursi, representing the Muslim Brotherhood, and Ahmed Shafiq, who among revolutionists in particular is considered an old regime figure, the scepticism about the credibility of the general election process has seemed to increase.

This distrust was furthered by the lack of transparency: the people were about to vote for whom  they would like to see rule the country, and they simply felt they did not knew anything about either of the two candidates’ agendas. What were their aims for the country and how did each of them plan on achieving this goal? However, with the SCAF placed as the country’s controlling mechanism for the last year and a half since Mubarak stepped down, there has been a very strong agreement among the revolutionists that the military would prefer to have a man from the old regime, which would make them ensure that Shafiq would be the winner of the second presidential run off.

Many even doubted that he had obtained enough votes to continue to the second round, which then would be due to SCAF’s control over the situation. Furthermore, the sudden decision about dismissing the newly elected parliament, for which the members had been elected during the three election rounds Egypt faced earlier this year and the end of last year, added to the suspicions about the interference of the military in ensuring that the coming political situation would be one that they would approve of.

According to revolutionists, this would mean that Ahmed Shafiq would be the new president, and that would be stepping back to the time of Mubarak, many believed. This would have made the martyrs die for nothing, and there has been a clear agreement among the people of the revolution that they would not allow that to happen, meaning that they would start a new revolution like the one the entire world witnessed last January.

Maybe this lack of trust to the SCAF, who has chosen the people sitting in the PEC, in addition to the very long, very detailed speech before announcing the result was thereason for the relief and exhilaration so that was overwhelming to many Egyptians. They made the streets float with happiness, chanter, drum play, clapping, singing and dancing, while the cars were honking their horns and people shouted Mursi’s name, as if they had just win a championship with him making the final and crucial goal.

The Egyptians truly deserve the victory many of them seem to find in this announcement, and tonight it is best to not worry about which consequences this result might end up having for Egypt and just congratulate all Egyptians who just experienced the result of their first free presidential election, which they themselves earned by being united–hopefully they will keep this in mind as time passes: One Nation!

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The Muslim Brotherhood’s presidential candidate, Mohammed Mursi, addressed Egyptian voters on Tuesday May 29, 2012 about concerns that his presidency would result in a strict Islamic state. Mursi claimed that not only would his Egyptian government be secular but he would emphasize the creation of an institution for the executive office instead of the presidency being one person.

Mursi spoke after his rival’s, Ahmed Shafiq’s, headquarters were attacked. Several store rooms were set fire to and computers were smashed.

Ahmed Shafiq, the rival to Mursi, was the prime minister under Mubarak, the former president removed through the most recent coup during the Arab Spring. Many of the youth voters are distrustful of Shafiq because of his relationship with the previous regime. However, many moderates support Shafiq because of his war and business records. He fought in three wars, including the Arab-Israeli conflict, as an air force pilot. He then went on to renovate EgyptAir which made the airline competitive and increased tourism.

Mursi claimed, “the Superman era is over,” emphasizing his desire to create an institution for the Presidency. Mursi also insisted that he would appoint individuals from opposing parties, not only from the Muslim Brotherhood.

The candidate addressed social issues in his speech as well. He made specific mention of the Coptic Christians and that they are the ‘brothers’ of Muslims and “will have full rights that are equal to those enjoyed by Muslims.” Additionally, Mursi claimed that Islamic dress codes would not be enforced; therefore, women would not be forced to wear the hijab. Mursi stated, “women have a right to freely choose the attire that suits them.”

Mursi’s statements came out amidst pressures from many Egyptian parties to have a candidate guarantee social reforms and political participation for all. There are also worries that the Muslim Brotherhood would create an autocratic rule or a government like that in Iran.

Originally the Muslim Brotherhood claimed that they would not put forth a presidential candidate and would focus solely on the parliament seats. The existence of Mursi as a presidential candidate at all thus reduces the Brotherhood’s credibility.

Mursi’s statement has indeed peaked the interest of several Egyptian political groups including the Social Democratic Party, the Ghad Party, and representatives from the National Association for Change. However these groups are still distrustful of both Shafiq and Mursi and have organized to demand more promises and action from Mursi before they agree to support him. Ayman Nour, head of the Ghad party, stated that the first condition was Mursi’s resignation from the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party. Mursi is currently the chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party and he stated that if he were to be elected president he would immediately resign his position.

The parties also demand that a presidential team of ten political figures from varying backgrounds be added to the executive branch to ensure that the minorities and underrepresented are no longer discriminated against or denied a voice. Additionally the parties request that a special committee be created to recombine the political programs of different presidential candidates to form a kind of national project.

Although these parties are willing to at least bargain with Mursi other parties are still very distrustful. The Wafd Party still claims that it will neither endorse Mursi nor Shafiq and finds neither candidate suitable. In addition there is a boycotting campaign for those who prefer neither candidate.

The most recent polls show Mursi only one percentage point ahead of Shafiq. The race will be very close and both candidates will need to win over the youth vote especially or risk losing those who created and supported the revolution.

Image Courtesy of  MOHPhoto / Shutterstock.com

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