On June 17, the ruling military council in Egypt took all observers off guard by issuing an addendum to the constitutional declaration that they issued in March last year. The new decree empowers the military at the expense of the newly elected president thus rendering the president to a figurehead status.
The move came a few days before the identity of the winner in the presidential contest was revealed. As this article is written, both contenders claim victory. But, barring any last minute surprise, the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate — Muhammad Mursi — would win the first competitive presidential election in Egypt.
Even if the Islamist candidate wins the election, the internal contest is far from being conclusive as the ruling military generals swiftly moved to grab broader power. The military in Egypt is having a difficult time letting go of power. In fact, they staged a coup that renders the newly elected president a mere puppet or one with no prerogatives. According to the new declaration, the military decided to remove the title of “Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces” from the president, a move that broke with a longstanding tradition in Egyptian politics. The new president will not be able to declare war. Nor can he order troops to the streets without the consent of the military.
Moreover, the new president will have no say in military affairs and therefore the right to hire and fire commanders will be an exclusive prerogative of the top brass of the military. Put succinctly, the military will not be subordinate to the civilian president. Needless to say the subordination of the military to elected civil government or president is a key benchmark of true democracy.
Two issues prompted the military to come up with this rather surprising move. First, the military never ruled out the possibility of a victory for Muhammad Mursi. Therefore, their move was meant to be a hedge against him. Implicit in the military statements and move is that they are not at ease with the prospect of an Islamist becoming a president. Their vested interests would have been threatened had the newly elected president been granted the powers Mubarak once enjoyed. The second issue is about the intention to shorten the term of the first president. In their statement, the generals made it perfectly clear that their country will prepare for presidential elections as soon as the new constitution is drafted. Explicit in this statement is the fact that the term of the president may not exceed one year!
It seems that the contest between the military and the Islamists will continue for a much longer time. So far, no agreement between the generals and the Islamists (the main winners of the revolution) has been reached over the division of the spoils of the revolution. The military exploited a court verdict and announced that the Parliament was dissolved. By doing so, the military only stepped outside the legal bounds and continued its bid to undermine the Parliament, which is dominated by Islamists. The Muslim Brotherhood’s response was clear from the get-go. They rejected the dissolution of the Parliament yet did not take to the streets in protest. It seems that they have learned the hard way that a confrontation with the army will not end in their interest. Let us not forget that this has been their approach with the state for decades.
And yet, the Muslim Brotherhood is not expected to comply with the new constitutional declaration. They are expected to press to revise the declaration peacefully because the Egyptian people who took to the streets sought to vote for a president with full power. Perhaps the last thing the Egyptians want to see is a toothless figurehead as a president under the thumb of the generals.
A democracy that elected a president that has no power is a fake democracy. It is inconceivable for a true democracy to have a military that controls national budget, manipulates legislation, has the exclusive right to appoint a panel to draft a new constitution, the power to veto a declaration of war, and above all its insubordination to democratic dispensation. All in all, many will ponder if this is not a counterrevolution, then what is a counterrevolution?!
It remains to be seen how this decree will play out especially with the widespread conviction that the decree was designed as a hedge against the Muslim Brotherhood’s presidential candidate.
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