Islamist Candidate Is Apparent Victor in Egypt as Military Cements Its Powers

Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters

A woman walks in front of a wall near Tahrir Square in Cairo on Monday that reads "president for tomorrow."

CAIRO ? Egyptian news organizations declared Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood the winner of the country?s first competitive presidential race on Monday just hours after the ruling military council issued an interim constitution granting itself broad power over the future government, all but eliminating the president?s authority in an apparent effort to guard against just such a victory.

The military?s new charter is the latest in a series of swift steps that the generals have taken to tighten their grasp on power just at the moment when they had promised to hand over to elected civilians the authority that they assumed on the ouster of Hosni Mubarak last year. Their charter gives them control of all laws and the national budget, immunity from any oversight, and the power to veto a declaration of war.

After dissolving the Brotherhood-led Parliament elected four months ago, and locking out its lawmakers, the generals on Sunday night also seized control of the process of writing a permanent constitution. State news media reported that the generals had picked a 100-member panel to draft it.

?The new constitutional declaration completed Egypt?s official transformation into a military dictatorship,? Hossam Bahgat, director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, wrote in an online commentary. Under the military?s charter, the president appeared to be reduced to a powerless figurehead.

Though final results were not available, Brotherhood supporters called the apparent victory by the Islamist candidate, Mohamed Morsi, a rebuke to the military?s power grab. ?Down, down with military rule!? a crowd at Mr. Morsi?s campaign headquarters chanted as he prepared to give a victory speech shortly after 4 a.m. Monday.

Mr. Morsi thanked God, who, he said, ?guided Egypt to this straight path, the path of freedom and democracy.? He pledged to represent all Egyptians, including those who had voted against him. And he made a special profession of support for the rights of members of Egypt?s Coptic Christian minority, many of whom had rallied against him out of fear of the Brotherhood.

Other Brotherhood leaders had already begun escalating their defiance of the generals in meetings and statements Sunday night.

After meeting with Gen. Sami Hafez Enan of the military council, the Brotherhood-affiliated speaker of the Parliament, Saad el-Katatni, declared that the military had no authority to dissolve the Parliament or write a constitution. He said a separate 100-member panel picked by the Parliament would begin meeting within hours to write up its own constitution, raising the prospect of competing assemblies. And Saad El Hussainy, the leader of the Brotherhood?s parliamentary bloc, said the group?s lawmakers would show up at the Parliament as scheduled on Tuesday morning. The generals had stationed military and riot police officers to keep the lawmakers out, potentially setting the stage for new clashes in the streets.

The military?s moves were ?a new episode of a complete military coup against the revolution and the popular will,? Mohamed El Beltagy, a leading Brotherhood lawmaker, said in a statement online.

The generals have not spoken publicly or explained their actions, which have been announced without fanfare in the official news media. A rushed decision issued Thursday by a Mubarak-appointed court had initially provided at least a legal veneer for the dissolution of the Parliament, but the swift consolidation of power has quickly taken the feel of a counterrevolution in the making.

The military?s charter ?really does complete the coup in many obvious ways,? said Nathan Brown, an Egypt expert at George Washington University, in an e-mail message. It brings back martial law and protects the military from any public, presidential or parliamentary scrutiny. And it perpetuates the generals? dominance of the political system.?

The presidential runoff had already become a critical battle in a long war between the generals and the Brotherhood, which for six decades constituted the primary opposition. Mr. Morsi, an American-trained engineer who once led the Brotherhood?s small bloc in the Mubarak-dominated Parliament, was up against Ahmed Shafik, a former air force general and Mr. Mubarak?s last prime minister. Mr. Shafik campaigned as a new strongman who could restore order and prevent an Islamist takeover, pledging to bring back central elements of the old police state.

The military?s shutdown of the Parliament has turned the race into something close to a life or death struggle for the Brotherhood. It demoralized Egypt?s Islamists and democrats alike, and at the same time energized Mr. Shafik?s supporters. And the sudden possibility that the revolt that defined the Arab Spring could end in a restoration of military-backed autocracy has again captivated the region.

Kareem Fahim, Mayy El Sheikh and Dina Salah Amer contributed reporting.

Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=5da913bee59f3341783eff57dcdf6518

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