Jew World Order

Morsi won more than 24 percent of the ballots in the first round last week and Shafiq came second with more than 23 percent.

The Muslim Brotherhood urged Egyptians to rally behind their presidential candidate in the run-off, warning the country would be in danger if Shafiq won.

Press TV’s Middle East Today’s program has interviewed Jihad Mouraccadeh, political analyst from Beirut who shares his views about the possible consequences of the various outcomes of Egypt’s first presidential elections. What follows is an approximate transcript of the interview.

Press TV: Do you think that many of the people were discouraged to perhaps take part in the election because a lot of important figures were disqualified at first – And if any president comes out now, do you think he can really call himself the president of Egypt?

Mouraccadeh: Certainly many people were disappointed with the disqualification of a number of candidates, were them to be pro-regime candidates or Islamic candidates. This showed that the military were a little bit high-handed over the choice of the candidates, kind of forcing the people and forcing the revolution into certain areas so to speak and limiting democratic choice. So, this on the one hand was a little bit disappointing. This probably explains the low turnout.

On the other hand, ….a new president will have a lot of legitimacy. At the end of the day you do not need 99 percent voter turnout to gain legitimacy. Any new president will have legitimacy… it is the first time you have democratic elections in Egypt.

If you look at the scores of the five candidates they mirror the scores of the top five candidates in France. Sarkozy and Hollande were 27 and 28; the top two in Egypt were 23 and 24. Next was 20 compared to 18, so it was a very democratic process.

Press TV: Do you think the election process was somehow engineered by the Military Council?

Mouraccadeh: I certainly think there was a lot of engineering in it because a lot of candidates were put on the side and most of the candidates who remained are acceptable figures whether it is Mr. Shafiq or Dr. Morsi or Amr Moussa – most of them are kind of acceptable in their moderation.

Egypt at the end of the day, the civil society, is kind of in the middle and is not really extremist; this is on the one hand.

On the other hand, I don’t really agree with the Muslim Brotherhood because somehow I do not trust the Muslim Brotherhood to be able to deliver on the promises made by Dr. Morsi because the Brotherhood, if they have the presidency and they have the parliament – as they do right now – they have 60 or 70 years worth of Muslim Brotherhood in their mind and they really want to establish a systemic society.

Maybe the candidate himself, Dr. Morsi, was very genuine yesterday – he himself; but he would not be allowed to work.

Press TV: How about Mr. Shafiq? If he is president he would have to work with a parliament with a Muslim Brotherhood majority.

Mouraccadeh: This creates some kind of balance. At the end of the day, Mr. Shafiq let’s face it has the support of the military, he has the support of the Mubarak people and he has the support of the so-called elite.

He will be able to face down parliament – the Muslim Brotherhood-dominated parliament, but Dr. Morsi would be the instrument of parliament rather than the leader of the country.

Press TV: The Muslim Brotherhood, wouldn’t you agree, that they are perhaps the most organized political party…

Mouraccadeh: Certainly. I have a lot of respect for the Muslim Brotherhood as such because the Muslim Brotherhood has been in place for a very long time as a political movement even under the direst of circumstances under Mubarak and so on; they were persecuted as a political movement. This is not my point.

My point is – the Muslim Brotherhood, whom I trust, are going to be hostages of the other Islamic parties and then they would not be able to move.

If they move to center they will have a problem with other Islamic parties; if they move too far towards the others, Salafists and so on, then they have a problem with the rest of the Islamic society.

So, their problem is they want to have a candidate who can actually govern in the middle as Egyptian society really wants because at the end of the day, Egyptian society, the real vote was really for a candidate for the people. That was a vote that was in the middle and then was split up and that is why number 1 and number 2 passed.

If the real center… this is where Egypt wants to be, then the Muslim Brotherhood has to be careful and involve…, if Dr. Morsi is elected, he’s got to include secular elements… the Coptics, just to give some balance away from being a hostage.

Press TV: Do you believe that Egypt will not go back to the pre-revolution situation – that it is, Egypt is moving forward?

Mouraccadeh: I certainly agree with your statement that Egypt is moving forward. I do not agree with the statement from our other guest that Mr. Shafiq will never be able to rule the country because you either believe in democracy, or not believe in democracy.

If the people vote for Mr. Shafiq… Ok, there are certainly people who are opposed to him like in any other democracy… you can be 51, 49…

Press TV: How about allegations of pumping money into the elections and so on?

Mouraccadeh: This would be resolved because Mr. Shafiq will have a lot of checks and balances and a parliament who is against him… if he is elected.

So if he has the parliament against him and he’s got the army with him, in my opinion, it’s the ideal balance.

Press TV: So you believe that he can make it?

Mouraccadeh: I don’t know, I don’t know about the numbers. But if he was to make it he would be able to govern because he would have the army with him on the one hand, the old Mubarak people and so on and you’ll have a parliament dominated by his opposition.

SC/HGH