1st April, 2012
How’s that Arab Spring working out?
The move tops off its success in legislative elections with a bid for the country’s most powerful post…
The announcement reverses a pledge made by the group’s leaders not to contest presidential elections to reassure liberals and other countries fearful of an Islamic takeover.
You mean Western Lefitsts actually believed them?
Well, yes. Monash University lecturer Waleed Aly:
The question is how many votes the Brotherhood will chase – they’ve said they’re not going to put forward a presidential candidate, because they won’t back one, so they say they won’t run one. So what exactly are their ambitions going to be? Let’s assume they end up in a position where they have backed whoever the next President of Egypt is, whoever that is, and that he’s not a Brotherhood member himself. I’m assuming it’s a ‘he’, which I think is fairly safe. And let’s assume they end up in control of the Parliament, or a very significant role in the Parliament – what are they going to do with that? In the end only time will tell – and I can’t see them being terribly rash.
Ditto with Oxford academic and writer Hussein Agha and Robert Malley, who was special assistant to former US president Clinton for Arab-Israeli Affairs:
Islamists might want to stay away from the front lines. In Egypt, some Brotherhood leaders made it plain that they will regulate their share of the parliamentary vote, preferring to sit in the legislature without controlling it. They will not run for high-profile offices, such as the presidency. They will build coalitions. They will lead from behind. The Islamists are on a mission to reassure.
They might play down controversial religious aspects of their project...[ed. It now turns out they have nominated a candidate to run for President of Egypt...Islamic Taqqiya at its best...]
