CAIRO: Egypt’s President Muhammad Mursi began his first full day in office yesterday, but with his powers sharply circumscribed by the military that has ruled since Hosni Mubarak was ousted from power last year.
After being sworn in as the country’s first freely elected civilian president on Saturday, Mursi formally received a transfer of power and pledge of support from the military.
But the 60-year-old’s swearing-in ceremony took place at the constitutional court in Cairo, despite Mursi’s wish that it take place before the now disbanded Islamist-led Parliament.
The military dissolved Parliament last month following a court order in what the powerful Muslim Brotherhood, from which Mursi stood down after his election, described as a “soft coup.”
In Saturday’s handover at Cairo’s Hike Step base, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), vowed to support the Islamist Mursi. “We will stand with the new president, elected by the people,” Tantawi said in a speech after an honor guard parade and a helicopter fly-past.
He bestowed upon the new president the highest military honor, “the shield of the armed forces,” and Mursi thanked the military, also pledging to support it.
“I accept the transfer of power,” Mursi said at the same base where members of the once-banned Brotherhood had faced military trials under Mubarak. However, the ritual masked a political impasse ripe for future confrontation.
The SCAF assumed legislative powers after it disbanded parliament and also formed a powerful national security council headed by the president but dominated by the generals.
The military also reserves the right to appoint a new constituent assembly should the one elected by the old Parliament be disbanded by a court decision expected on Sept. 1.
The Brotherhood insists that only Parliament can appoint the assembly.
