May 20, 2012: The Muslim Brotherhood’s presidential candidate Mohammed Morsi  holds a rally in Cairo, Egypt. (AP)

CAIRO –  The Muslim Brotherhood declared  early Monday that its candidate, Mohammed Morsi, won Egypt’s presidential  election, which would be the first victory of an Islamist as head of state in  the stunning wave of protests demanding democracy that swept the Middle East the  past year.

But the military handed itself the lion’s share power over the new president,  sharpening the possibility of confrontation. With parliament dissolved and  martial law effectively in force, the generals issued an interim constitution  granting themselves sweeping authorities that ensure their hold on the state and  subordinate the president.

They will be Egypt’s lawmakers, they will control the budget and they will determine who writes the permanent constitution that will define the country’s future. But as they claimed a narrow victory over Hosni Mubarak’s last prime minister Ahmed Shafiq in a deeply polarizing election, the Brotherhood challenged the military’s power grab.

The group said Sunday it did not recognize the dissolution of parliament,  where it was the largest party. It also rejected the military’s right to issue  an interim constitution and oversee the drafting of a new one.

That pointed to a potential struggle over spheres of authority between  Egypt’s two strongest forces. The Brotherhood has campaigned on a platform of  bringing Egypt closer to a form of Islamic rule, but the military’s grip puts it  in a position to block that.

Instead any conflict would likely center on more basic questions of control — if the Brotherhood pushes a fight. It has reached accommodations with the  military in the past.

Official final results are not due until Thursday, and Shafiq’s campaign  challenged the Brotherhood claim, which was based on the group’s compilation of  election officials’ returns from nearly all polling centers  nationwide.

But at their campaign headquarters, the Brotherhood officials and supporters  were ebullient over the turn of fate. The fundamentalist group that was banned  for most of its 80-year history and repeatedly subjected to crackdowns under  Mubarak’s rule now held the chair from which their nemesis was ousted by last  year’s 18 days of mass protests.

The uprising was launched by secular, leftist young activists, joined only  later by the Brotherhood’s leadership as millions took to the street, seeking an  end to an authoritarian regime considered hopelessly corrupt.

In a victory speech at the headquarters, Morsi clearly sought to assuage the  fears of a large sector of Egyptians that the Brotherhood will try to impose  stricter provisions of Islamic law. He said he seeks “stability, love and  brotherhood for the Egyptian civil, national, democratic, constitutional and  modern state” and made no mention of Islamic law.

“Thank God, who successfully led us to this blessed revolution. Thank God,  who guided the people of Egypt to this correct path, the road of freedom,  democracy,” the bearded, 60-year-old U.S.-educated engineer declared.

He vowed to all Egyptians, “men, women, mothers, sisters … all political  factions, the Muslims, the Christians” to be “a servant for all of them.”   “We are not about taking revenge or settling scores. We are all brothers  of this nation, we own it together, and we are equal in rights and  duties.”

Morsi, who just before the two days of voting declared he “loves” the  military, did not make show of defiance against the generals.

Still, the speaker of the parliament, Brotherhood member Saad el-Katatni,  stood next to him in a sign of the group’s insistence the legislature remains in  place. Some in Brotherhood were ready for a challenge. “Down with military  rule,” the supporters chanted at the headquarters.

The secular revolutionary group April 6, which helped launch the anti-Mubarak  uprising, congratulated the Brotherhood on its win. “The next phase is more  difficult. We must all unite against the oppressive rule of the military  council,” its founder Ahmed Maher said.

By the group’s count, Morsi took 13.2 million votes, or 51.8 percent, to  Shafiq’s 48.1 percent out of 25.5 million votes with more than 99 percent of the  more than 13,000 poll centers counted. The count was based on results announced  by election officials at individual counting centers, where each campaign has  representatives who compile the numbers and make them public before the formal  announcement.

The Brotherhood’s early, partial counts proved generally accurate in last  month’s first round vote. The Shafiq campaign accused the Brotherhood of  “deceiving the people” by declaring victory.

A campaign spokesman on the independent ONTV channel said counting was still  going on with Shafiq slightly ahead so far.

The Arab Spring uprisings have brought greater power to Islamists in the  countries where longtime authoritarian leaders were toppled — but Morsi would  be the first Islamist president.

The Islamist Ennahda party won elections in Tunisia for a national assembly  and it leads a coalition government, but the president is a leftist.

Libya’s leadership remains in confusion and there is no president, though  Islamists play a strong role, and an Islamist party is part of the coalition  government in Yemen under a president who was once ousted leader Ali Abdullah  Saleh’s deputy.

The question now will be how a Brotherhood president will get along with the  military generals who have ruled since Mubarak fell on Feb. 11, 2011 and who  will still hold powers that can potentially paralyze Morsi.

Critics often accuse the Brotherhood of acceding to those in power in return  for a taste of authority, citing its understandings with the generals over the  past 16 months and deals struck with Mubarak’s regime itself. The Supreme  Council of the Armed Forces, the body of top generals headed by Field Marshall  Hussein Tantawi, Mubarak’s defense minister for 20 years, has built a formidable  lock on ultimate control in Egypt

. Just before the election, the military council, which has ruled since  Mubarak’s fall, slapped de facto martial law on the country, giving military  police and intelligence the right to arrest civilians for a host of suspected  crimes, some as secondary as obstructing traffic.

Then came Thursday’s ruling by the Supreme Constitutional Court dissolving  parliament. The issuing of the interim constitution was declared just after  polls closed Sunday.

According to a copy of the document obtained by The Associated Press, the  generals would be the nation’s legislators and control the budget. The president  will be able to appoint a Cabinet and approve or reject laws. Notably, the  declaration prevents him from changing the make-up of the military council and  gives

Tantawi the commander-in-chief powers that previously went to the president.  The generals will also name the 100-member panel tasked with drafting a new  constitution, thus ensuring the new charter would guarantee them a say in key  policies like defense and national security as well as shield their vast  economic empire from civilian scrutiny.

Parliament had been tasked with putting together the panel. Under the  document, new parliament elections will not be held until a new constitution is  approved, likely meaning an election in December at the earliest.

In the constitution-writing process, the military can object over any  articles and the Supreme Constitutional Court — which is made up of Mubarak-era  appointees — will have final say over any disputes.

“In freezing the SCAF’s current membership in place and giving it such  sweeping powers, the provisions really do constitutionalize a military coup,”  Nathan Brown, a professor of political science and international affairs at  George Washington University, said in an e-mail.

Earlier Sunday, the Brotherhood’s el-Katatni met with the deputy head of the  military council, Chief of Staff Gen. Sami Anan and told him the group does not  recognize the dissolution of parliament, according to a Brotherhood statement.  El-Katatni insisted the military could not issue an interim constitution.

He also said that a constitution-writing panel that the parliament  formed just before the court ruling would meet in the “coming hours” to go ahead  with its work.

Still, the Brotherhood has no power to force recognition of the  parliament-created constituent assembly, which already seems discounted after  parliament’s dissolution and is likely to be formally disbanded by a pending  court ruling. Lawmakers are literally locked out of parliament, which is ringed  by troops.

The generals, mostly in their 60s and 70s, owe their ranks to the patronage  of Mubarak. All along, activists from the pro-democracy youth groups that  engineered the anti-Mubarak uprising questioned the generals’ will to hand over  power, arguing that after 60 years of direct or behind-the-scenes domination,  the military was unlikely to voluntarily relinquish its perks.

The presidential race was a bitter one. Shafiq, a former air force commander  and an admirer and longtime friend of Mubarak, was seen by opponents as an  extension of the old regime that millions sought to uproot when they staged a  stunning uprising that toppled the man who ruled Egypt for three  decades.

Morsi’s opponents, in turn, feared that if he wins, the Brotherhood will take  over the nation and turn it into an Islamic state, curbing freedoms and  consigning minority Christians and women to second-class citizens.

Trying to rally the public in the last hours of voting, the Brotherhood  presented a Morsi presidency as the last hope to prevent total control by the  military council of Mubarak-era generals. “We got rid of one devil and got 19,”  said Mohammed Kanouna, referring to Mubarak and the members of the military  council as he voted for Morsi after night fell in Cairo’s Dar el-Salam slum. “We  have to let them know there is a will of the people above their will.”

But the prospect that the generals will still hold most power even after  their nominal handover of authority to civilians by July 1 deepened the gloom,  leaving some feeling the vote was essentially meaningless.

“It is as if the revolution never happened,” Ayat Maher, a 28-year-old mother  of three who voted for Morsi in Cairo’s central Abdeen district. “The same  people are running the country. The same oppression and the same sense of  enslavement. They still hold the keys to everything.”

Source: AP