Hans Rustad Det muslimske brorskap i Egypt stiller likevel kandidat til presidentvalget, stikk i strid med forsikringer om det motsatte.
Khairat el-Shater er en av Egypts rikeste forretningsmenn. Han er nyliberaler og ønsker et størst mulig fritt næringsliv, til alle som tenker på Brorskapet som sosialt og solidarisk. Han satt 12 år i fengsel, men var liaison mellom Brorskapet og sikkerhetsorganene under Mubarak.
Brorskapet dominerer allerede nasjonalforsamlingen, kommisjonen som skal utarbeide nye grunnlov, og har den senere tid utfordret Det nasjonale militærråd og overgangsregjeringen. Brorskapet viser muskler og maktlyst og det skremmer liberale og sekulære i Egypt og vestlige regjeringer.
The Muslim Brotherhood nominated its chief strategist and financier Khairat el-Shater on Saturday as its candidate to become Egypt’s first president since Hosni Mubarak, breaking a pledge not to seek the top office and a monopoly on power.
The Muslim Brotherhood nominated its longtime strategist Khairat el-Shater in the Egyptian presidential election.
Mr. Shater, 62, a millionaire business tycoon, was a political prisoner until just a year ago. Because of the Brotherhood’s unrivaled grass-roots organization and popular appeal, he is now a presidential front-runner.
He is being nominated at a moment of escalating tension between the Brotherhood and Egypt’s military rulers. The Brotherhood, an Islamist group outlawed under Mr. Mubarak, already dominates the Parliament and the assembly writing a new Constitution. It is now demanding to replace the military-led cabinet and is tussling with the military council over questions like the degree of civilian oversight of the military under the new charter.
His candidacy is likely to unnerve the West and has already outraged Egyptian liberals, who wonder what other pledges of moderation the Brotherhood may abandon.
The Brotherhood’s entry into the race also turns the election into a debate over the future of the Islamist political movement that is sure to resonate in the region.
Grunnen til at Brorskapet skulle være tilbakeholdende og ikke stille i presidentvalget, var erfaringen fra Algerie. Der førte den islamistiske FIS-frontens valgseier i første runde til at de militære grep inn, og avlyste annen runde. Det hele endte med en særdeles blodig og brutal borgerkrig, der så mange som 200.000 kan ha blitt drept.
Reaksjoner
Reaksjonen på Brorskapets helomvendig var sterk. Bevegelsens talsmann i Europa trakk seg i protest.
On Saturday some fellow Islamists criticized the Brotherhood for abandoning its pledge. Kamal El Helbawy, an ex-spokesman for the group in Europe, resigned, saying that the Brotherhood looked like “liars” and that its political mission had taken precedence over the religious one.
Abdel Rahman Ayyash, a former member who used to work closely with Mr. Shater, accused him of merely seeking political power. “For the first time since I was a Muslim Brother, I’m certain of bad intentions,” he said.
Autoritær
Kritikerer mener el-Shater har viste en autoritær side den senere tid. Han har gjenopplivet de sentraliserte kommandolinjene fra tiden som undergrunnsbevegelse. Opposisjon tåles ikke, kritikere ekskluderes.
Mr. Shater was considered a hero of Brotherhood reformers. He helped chart the group’s steps into electoral democracy, both in professional associations and as the only real opposition in the Mubarak-dominated Parliament. And he led the creation of the Brotherhood’s Web sites in Arabic and English, spawning a generation of bloggers.
In prison and out, Mr. Shater served as the Brotherhood’s chief liaison for negotiations or other exchanges with the Mubarak security services, and since Mr. Mubarak’s ouster he has continued that role with the generals.
Since the ouster of Mr. Mubarak, however, many younger and reform-minded members have said they have grown disappointed with Mr. Shater. They say he has enforced an insular and hierarchical culture left over from the group’s decades underground. Mr. Shater led a push to bar Brotherhood members from dissenting from the political stands of its Freedom and Justice Party, and he led the expulsion of those who sought less conservative Islamist politics.
Brorskapet møter seg nå seg selv i døren. Et annet medlem av Brorskapet, Abdul Fatouh, som hevdet at islamismen må tåle ulike retninger, ble ekskludert da han stilte som presidentkandidat. Nå gjør Brorskapet det samme.
Den egentlige grunnen til at Brorskapet stiller er trolig at de har fått en konkurrent på høyre fløy, en høyrepopulistisk salafist. Hazem Salah Abu Ismail har hatt så stor fremgang at det kan ha skremt Brorskapet. De tør ikke la andre ta initiativet. Men det sier også noe om hvordan de ser på politisk makt: ut fra dominans.
The Brotherhood has now dropped the pledge that Mr. Aboul Fotouh was expelled for violating, but the group has continued to oppose his candidacy because of his insubordination, even threatening to expel members who support him.
On the other side, Mr. Shater faces competition from an ultraconservative populist, Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, who has built a national following with an old-school Islamist platform, including vigorous attacks on Israel and the West, as well as an emphasis on restoring strict Islamic law. His success would seriously discredit the Brotherhood’s efforts to portray Egypt’s Islamists as moderate and unthreatening.
