Egyptians have voted for a new constitution. Within two months fresh general elections must be held for a new parliament. For a country in deep economic trouble, the resolution of its political troubles is long overdue. Unfortunately, the victory of President Mohamed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood party over the issue of the new constitution, which was backed by more than 60 percent of voters, is unlikely to bring stability. The opposition parties, though deeply divided on many issues, have sought to produce a united front in claiming the new constitutional foundation upon which Egypt will now be governed actually paves the way for the introduction of Shariah law. This, they claim, will produce an oppressive one-party state,whose president will enjoy greater powers than those wielded by the ousted president Hosni Mubarak and his military-backed predecessors. In asserting this, the opposition parties ignore the protests of Muslim Brotherhood leaders that the new constitution promises an inclusive government embracing all Egyptians. Indeed one top Brotherhood leader, Mohammed Badie, said Tuesday that the country's re-birth would involve the freedom of “men, women, Muslims and Christians.” The opposition say they base their suspicions on the president's assumption last month of the ultimate legal power in the country, able to overrule both the legislature and the judiciary. Even among the Brotherhood leadership, there were some who considered this move a tactical error. Their reasoning was that if the Brotherhood were to be believed in its commitment to democracy, then at some future point, a president from the present opposition could use the same sweeping powers to once again proscribe the Brotherhood. Alternatively, Morsi's assumption of virtually absolute power could seem to give the lie to a genuine democratic future and strengthen the hand of the opposition, fostering further confrontations on the streets. The clear danger is that the security situation could deteriorate to such an extent that the military would find sufficient excuse to intervene, push the elected president Morsi aside and, with the predictable promise of fresh elections at some ill-defined later date, resume their dominant role in the country. It is instructive to recall that many Arab Spring states, including Egypt, have said that they are looking to Turkey with its moderate Islamic government as their model. Yet Turkey has had an unfortunate history of three military interventions, ostensibly to protect the Kemalist constitution of 1924 and bring order to the streets. The parliamentary elections in Egypt that must be held within the next two months will give further opportunity for the opposition to mount demonstrations against Morsi and the Brotherhood. These protests will not simply be part of the election campaign but will continue to focus on the constitutional vote. The inevitable claim will be that only 30 percent of the registered electorate bothered to actually vote for a document that is fundamental to Egypt's future. Therefore, opposition leaders will say, it lacks legitimacy. This, however, is to ignore the reality that all Egyptians had the opportunity to express their views at the ballot box. That the majority of them chose not to, does not, in the purely democratic terms that opposition leaders claim to embrace negate the outcome of the vote. This, however, is a truth that those who oppose the Muslim Brotherhood will happily choose to ignore.
