The saying goes in Egypt that “an expert's mistake is worth a thousand”, meaning that a mistake made by an ordinary person might go by without consequences, repercussions or any harm done, while mistakes made by “experts” could devastate them or those around them, cause great harm to those close to them, or be recorded in history. The occasion for saying this is announcement by the Muslim Brotherhood's that it was nominating as candidate its Vice General Guide (Vice Chairman), i.e. the Number Two man in the organization, Engineer Khairat El-Shater, to compete for the presidential seat against three others also affiliated with the Islamist movement. One of the latter is Sheikh Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, who was a member of the Brotherhood for a time, and waged the People's Assembly elections in 2005 as a Muslim Brotherhood candidate. He is now affiliated with the Salafist movement, and seems to enjoy tremendous popularity among simple people. Another is Doctor Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, who until a few months ago had been one of the most prominent leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood and a member of its Guidance Bureau, and who was especially appreciated by the Brotherhood youth, something over which only Shater could compete against him. The third is Doctor Mohammad Salim Al-Awa, who brings a “centrist school of thought” and enjoys the support of those who are religious but unaffiliated to the political Islamist movement. Shater's candidacy has disrupted the calculations of the other three, because the votes that would have been divided among them will now be divided into four. And regardless of the campaign waged by secular forces against the Brotherhood or of the point of view of those opposed to the Islamist movement on the fact that the Muslim Brotherhood has retracted its previous decision to abstain from competing over the presidential seat and support a candidate unaffiliated with the group, which is the reason that served as a basis for expelling Doctor Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh when he insisted on running as candidate, the truth in reality points to the fact the Brotherhood will consider “the expert” Shater's (Shater being the Arabic word for “expert”) battle to be a fateful one and a powerful test at which they must win. Indeed, his defeat before another Islamist candidate or a candidate affiliated with secular forces would simply mean a divisive blow to the group, which has obtained the parliamentary majority at the People's Assembly elections, followed by those of the Shura Council, and after that the Constitutive Assembly that will draft the constitution – knowing that they this time will not only be facing a campaign by secular forces against them, but will also be competing against other Islamist movements. I know Shater personally and am well aware of the weight he carries within the Muslim Brotherhood and the manner in which members rally around him, especially the youth who consider him to be a model of both competence and sacrifice. His personal record reflects the size of the blows directed by the former regime against him, starting from seizing his assets and undermining his economic projects, through distorting his image, and up to imprisoning him. Yet these qualifications which have raised his standing within the Brotherhood are not alone sufficient to win him the presidential seat, especially as candidates unaffiliated with the Islamist movement, among them for example Mr. Amr Moussa and Marshal Ahmed Shafik, will naturally benefit from the fragmentation of Islamist votes and from their division. The Muslim Brotherhood has placed all parties to the political game in Egypt in jeopardy. Indeed, the Military Council – which has taken offense to the pressures placed by the Brotherhood on Doctor Kamal Ganzouri's government, and to what it considered to be its hegemony on the Constitutive Assembly that will draft the constitution, has sought after the ratification of a presidential system for the country in the new constitution so as to reduce the control the group holds on the country's affairs, and has resisted its desire for a mixed presidential and parliamentary system that would allow the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) to form a government – is now facing a new challenge. Indeed, Shater winning the presidential seat would place greater powers in the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood if a presidential system were to be ratified. As for the other forces, which are still protesting and denouncing the Brotherhood's retraction of its stance, and criticizing its desire to “hoard” all branches of government, the time has come for them to realize that fishing for the mistakes committed by the Brotherhood in particular, and by the Islamist movement in general, is neither sufficient nor has a great deal of influence on the results of any voting process, and that interacting with the street, achieving popularity among the masses, and confronting the Brotherhood on the ground are matters that require walking a long road – one on which secular forces have not yet taken the first step.
