President Muhammad Morsi, his party the Muslim Brotherhood group and their entourage, took one year to achieve what former President Hosni Mubarak, his party, and his men took more than three decades to accomplish. Furthermore, Morsi surpassed Mubarak, as he was able to gather – after one year in power – much greater numbers of oppositionists on the streets and squares than Mubarak did throughout his rule of tyranny and corruption. Nonetheless, Mubarak realized it would be impossible to sustain the predicament to which he led the country, thus stepping down to allow the launching of another transitional phase. And while Morsi, and the group's Guidance Bureau before him, remained unaware of this paradox, all the talk about dialogue and reconciliation is a mere misleading attempt. The Egyptians almost acted spontaneously against Mubarak's regime following the last legislative elections staged during his mandate, after they had enough of the falsification witnessed in the latter elections in favor of the ruling National Party at the time and the beneficiaries from power. Back then, the Muslim Brotherhood leaders were still wagering on coexistence with the National Party and the lifting of the sword of arrests off their necks, while the Egyptian streets and squares had started to be dominated by the slogan "Leave!" which was not adopted by the group until after it became clear that Mubarak was indeed leaving. At the beginning of the transitional phase, the Egyptians joined the civil state option in the face of the military authority, which considered – rightfully or wrongfully – that Ahmad Shafik was its candidate. Morsi, as a civilian candidate, thus earned a majority entitling him to lead the transitional phase, which the Egyptians wanted to be one that witnesses the drafting of a real civil constitution, enhancing plurality, democracy, and the state's neutrality towards the political parties. And one can say, without any exaggeration, that the first elected civilian president in Egypt acted – along with his group – as though he owned Egypt and its people. Indeed, the president did not issue one decision, on whichever level and whether it is related to the domestic or foreign arena, reflecting the minimum level of interest in the others and their aspirations. More dangerously, we saw the use of a conspiracy-based justification for the size of the opposition which started to widen since the first constitutional declaration, one whose issuance conveyed the real and deep headline of the dictatorship marching onto Egypt. This was confirmed by the decisions that followed, as well as by the flawed and opportunistic policies on the foreign level. This threat to the aspirations of the Egyptian people allowed Morsi to gather millions against his authority on the streets and squares, and this is what the Muslim Brotherhood group has not yet realized, or does not want to realize: during the January revolution, the Egyptians rebelled against the fierce tyranny practiced under Mubarak, and they voted against the threat of this tyranny's return with Ahmad Shafik. Today, they have taken to the streets to prevent it from becoming rooted in light of Morsi's and the MB's authority. The ballot boxes usually have the final say during times of stability and equal opportunities for all. As a result, power goes to whoever is granted a majority by the boxes, provided that no decisions are made to undermine the foundations of stability and justice. However, the transitional phase naturally imposes a consensual authority reflecting the electoral weight of all the sides. This is what the MB did not recognize, thus toppling the rules of the game during the transitional phase, monopolizing all the decision making powers and accusing the opposition of treason. By doing so, they breached the condition related to the determining character of the ballot boxes which they are defending, simply to hold on to power and avoid exiting the crisis. At this level, the presidency's response to the Army's statement reflected the denial of this extremely important issue, as well as the extent of the divide between the legitimacy of the ballot boxes being used by the MB and the aspirations for the transitional phase to instate democracy.
