Street protests and clashes in Cairo and other major cities across Egypt finally led to the ouster of Mohammed Morsi, just one year after he took office as president after winning a democratic election in the most populous Arab country.

 

During the nationwide protests, Morsi’s opponents said he was responsible for the disastrous economic situation of the country and called him an authoritarian ruler. Morsi also broke his numerous promises about the ratification of the new constitution, his endless battle with the army generals and the judges of the judiciary continued unabated, and the establishment of a democratic and powerful Egypt remained an out-of-reach goal.

 

Morsi’s popular base was relatively weak since he only got 51 percent of the vote in 2012 in a presidential election in which nearly half of all eligible voters did not cast ballots. A number of challenges, such as the rise of extremists and Salafists and the pressure imposed by Western and regional governments, which were trying to force Morsi to act in line with their interests in the new system, exacerbated the problems of Egypt’s first post-revolutionary government. This provided an opportunity for opposition groups -- including the liberals, the secularists, Sunni Muslims outside of the ruling Muslim Brotherhood party, and religious minority groups -- to unite against Morsi and start the Tamarrud (rebel) movement. 

 

Yet, despite his many shortcomings, Morsi had the key to resolving the dispute in his hands. However, in his final televised address to the Egyptian nation, he used harsh language to criticize his opponents and even warned them that he would use violence to quell the protests. Although Morsi also admitted that he made mistakes in his first year in office in some parts of his speech, the threatening language widened the gap between his government and the opposition groups. 

 

The only way for Morsi to save himself and stay in power was for him to accept the opposition’s demands and swiftly make reforms in the administration, which certainly would have prevented the coup d’état by the Egyptian military against the democratically elected government. He also should have allowed some key figures in the opposition, such as Mohamed ElBaradei and Amr Moussa, to have a place in his government and should have finally acknowledged that one-party rule was not working. But Morsi went in the opposite direction and made no efforts to realize the people’s expectations. 

 

At this critical juncture, the Egyptian people are facing a serious task. They are expected to continue their quest to find a strong and reasonable leader who can realize the objectives of the revolution. Otherwise, Egypt may return to the dark days of military rule, and then the cause of the Egyptians seeking freedom and democracy would almost be obliterated.   

 

Mir-Masoud Hosseinian is an expert on Egypt at the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s Center for Middle East and Persian Gulf Studies.

 

MS/HG