Military Flexes Its Muscles as
Islamists Gain in Egypt
Moises Saman for The New York Times
In Cairo last month, soldiers guarded a polling
place before it opened to voters. Islamists have taken a big lead so
far, prompting military rulers to act.
Published: December 7, 2011
CAIRO —
Egypt’s military rulers said Wednesday that they would control the
process of writing a constitution and maintain authority over the
interim government to check the power of Islamists who have taken a
commanding lead in parliamentary elections.
In an unusual briefing evidently aimed at Washington, Gen. Mukhtar
al-Mulla of the ruling council asserted that the initial results of
elections for the People’s Assembly do not represent the full Egyptian
public, in part because well-organized factions of Islamists were
dominating the voting. The comments, to foreign reporters and not the
Egyptian public, may have been intended to persuade Washington to back
off its call for civilian rule.
“So whatever the majority in the People’s Assembly, they are very
welcome, because they won’t have the ability to impose anything that the
people don’t want,” General Mulla said, explaining that the makeup of
Parliament will not matter because it will not have power over the
constitution.
He appeared to say that the vote results could not be representative
because the Egyptian public could not possibly support the Islamists,
especially the faction of ultraconservative Salafis who have taken a
quarter of the early voting.
“Do you think that the Egyptians elected someone to threaten his
interest and economy and security and relations with international
community?” General Mulla asked. “Of course not.”
The military’s insistence on controlling the constitutional process
was the latest twist in a struggle between the generals’ council and a
chorus of liberal and Islamist critics who want the elected officials to
preside over the writing of a new constitution.
Just three weeks ago, Cairo erupted in a week of bloody protests set
off in part by the military’s attempts to claim permanent powers to
intervene in civilian politics and to enshrine in the constitution
protection from public scrutiny. Under intense pressure, the military
appeared for a time to back down.
But the setting of the general’s remarks — an extraordinary
question-and-answer session for an invited group of eight American
journalists and one British journalist, without any Egyptian news
organizations — indicated that he was also talking to Washington. The
Obama administration joined the calls of Egyptian activists for the
generals to turn over power “immediately” to a civilian government, and
the generals have expected that the threat of an Islamist takeover at
the polls might now give Washington pause.
It was unclear if the council planned to ever deliver such a message
to the Egyptian public or political parties. Egyptian activists were as
incensed that the council laid out its plans to foreigners first as they
were by its reassertion of control.
“This is an attempt to stage a coup, and nobody wants it — even the
people who are against the Islamists,” said Negad el-Borai, a human
rights activist in Cairo.
He accused the military council of playing liberals and Islamists
against one another in an effort to preserve its own power. “This is
madness,” he said. “They are deciding to push the country toward a broad
civil war.”
Saad el-Katanti, secretary general of the Brotherhood’s Freedom and
Justice Party, told The Associated Press that his party also believed
that the constituent assembly should be broadly representative of all
segments of the population. “Why does the council want to interfere?” he
said.
General Mulla, for his part, insisted that he respected the fairness
and integrity of the election, which began in November and will continue
in stages until January. But, he said, “In such unstable conditions, the
Parliament is not representing all the Egyptians.”
He also appeared to escalate a mounting confrontation with the Muslim
Brotherhood, the Islamist group that is Egypt’s best-organized political
force, over control of the interim government.
The Brotherhood, whose political party emerged as
the biggest winner in the early election returns, with about 40 percent
of the vote, have demanded that the Parliament take over the right to
name or dismiss a prime minister; General Mulla insisted that the prime
minister would continue to report to the military council.
The Brotherhood, whose political party emerged as
the biggest winner in the early election returns, with about 40 percent
of the vote, have demanded that the Parliament take over the right to
name or dismiss a prime minister; General Mulla insisted that the prime
minister would continue to report to the military council.
©
2011 The New York Times Company
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