The Nezavisimaya Gazeta daily published an editorial article, which is devoted to the situation in Egypt after the presidential elections.
Еgyptian President Elect Mohamed Morsi pledged in his first public address to be the president of all Egyptians despite their confessional and other differences, the newspaper recalled. He quitted the Party of Freedom and Justice, which nominated him at the presidential elections. This certainly does not mean that Morsi broke all the ties with the Muslim Brotherhood movement that created the foresaid party, the newspaper reported. This movement has been acting in the underground for many years, particularly staging terrorist acts, including the murder of a famous Egyptian President Anwar Sadat for the signing of the Camp David agreements with Israel and an attempt on the life of Hosni Mubarak.
The Arab Spring released the Muslim Brothers from the underground and prisons. They succeeded to spread their influence in Egypt better than other political forces. Their skills to work on “the Arab streets” and the support from the like-minded fellows from other countries had a decisive impact on this fact. However, at first few people expected a so rapidly growing influence of the Islamists. But last January the Islamists gained 70% of seats in the parliament. Before the presidential elections it seemed that the full power is about to get into their hands. But the military forces interfered in the situation. The Constitutional Court dissolved the parliament and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces restricted the presidential powers and grabbed fully in its hands the drafting of the Constitution.
It is common knowledge that the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces was negotiating with Morsi. He accepted the conditions of the military and was announced as president. On his first workday Morsi met with Commander-in-Chief of the Egyptian Armed Forces Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi and raised the question for his broader powers. Meanwhile, the Egyptian court banned the army to arrest civilians.
The dual power is obvious, and a weaker party is seeking to improve its positions from the very beginning. Further prospects mainly depend from the progress of public processes. Since the presidential elections showed that the peak of successes reached by the Islamists is passed. A little more than 50% of voters supported Morsi. Now the army will probably support the build-up of the secular political forces. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces was already negotiating with Mohamed ElBaradei, who is a representative of the democratic groups that enjoy the Western support.
A loud political blast and disorders in the streets were not avoided. The world capitals took with satisfaction Morsi’s statement and the fact of a stabilizing influence of the army. The presidential pledges to fulfil the international agreements had a soothing influence on the Western countries. But the concerns were not lifted fully.
Probably the concerns will not disappear. As with all pledges, which Morsi gives, his priorities cannot coincide with the interests of other sides. He stated that he is ready to develop relations with Iran and received congratulations from Hamas. It turns out that the new president prioritizes the development of relations with a broad range of Islamic countries without making special differences between them.
Russia believes it is quite important that Egypt gained a chance to get out of the period of instability and concentration only on domestic affairs. There are all grounds to hope that the country will become again an important player in the Middle East in 1-2 years.
Russia is interested in the developments of all-embracing political, cultural, trade and economic, tourist and other relations with that country that is its traditional partner in the region, the Nezavisimaya Gazeta daily reported. Meanwhile, one should take into account that the Islamic politicians and their parties have already integrated in the Egyptian political landscape and the world community should deal with them.