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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Patience, Egypt
Mohammed Morsi became Egypt's first democratically elected president on the Sunday after military rulers allowed the election commission to confirm the results of the June 16 ballot.
To be sure it was a moment to celebrate. But exactly what to celebrate? The declaration of Mr. Morsi's victory came after intense negotiations with the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, the de facto rulers of Egypt, and after he renounced his membership in the Muslim Brotherhood, declaring he wanted to govern for all Egyptians. Also, he is the declared president of what? The military dismissed the parliament before Mr. Morsi's victory and has not said what, if any, power it might share.
As awkward as all of these cat-and-mouse moves surely are to democrats, however, they might yet prove the most practical way forward. It was unrealistic that Egypt would go from tyranny to functioning democracy overnight. But it is moving in the right direction, if only haltingly and by baby steps.
It is no small thing that there has been no significant conflict since the parliamentary election and that Mr. Morsi is the first democratically elected president of Egypt. Keeping a lid on rising expectations is prudent -- Mr. Morsi simply cannot produce quickly what he promised in the elections -- and negotiation is producing results. Patience will serve Egyptians well.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 26, 2012 A10
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