Mohammed Mursi was the Muslim Brotherhood’s “spare” after the charismatic Khairat al-Shater was disqualified from running in Egyptian presidential election. Opponents would even hold up spare tyres at rallies to ridicule a man who seemed awkward in public and not comfortable with the role that Shater and the other senior Brotherhood figures had decided for him. That spareness was much in evidence on the night Mursi won the Egyptian presidency.
When results first came trickling in from 11pm his team were surprised that he was so far ahead. They seemed nervous that the victory the figures were showing would still elude them and were careful to avoid making bold predictions. Media were invited to the air-conditioned top floor for the first press statement, but then turfed out to the garden where the temperatures were stifling. Then Mursi himself turned up, to a chorus of allahu akbar wa lillah al-hamd, and was bustled into the building amid a scrum of press and Freedom and Justice Party officials.
The figures the party were giving on the results so far began to narrow significantly from over 60 percent when a some portion of results were in, to 55 percent when 5,000 of the 13,000 stations had been counted. But the gap was still clear enough for Saudi pro-felool Al-Arabiya TV to avoid giving a full tally and celebratory smiles to break out clearly on the face of Al-Jazeera presenter Mohammed al-Kureishan. One of the Mursi supporters in the garden flicking between the Brotherhood channel Misr 25 and other stations joked that Shafiq would have no choice but to go down to Tahrir to protest, at which everyone fell about laughing.
But media at the FJP bash wanted to know when we’d see Mursi. Then, just after 3 am campaign official Ahmed Abd al-Ati came down to announce that Mursi had 52 percent of the vote with over 95 percent of polling stations counted, and a final announcement would be made upstairs at 4. But he avoided saying that Mursi would appear, suggesting even that it was unlikely
Finale
Abd al-Ati and Mursi spokesman Yasser Ali took the stage after admitting to journalists that they hadn’t persuaded Mursi to come. The results read by Abd al-Ati giving Mursi 52.5 percent of “almost final results” were met with cheers and chants: “Long live the Egyptian people, the martyrs’ blood was not shed in vain!” and “Down with military rule!” A journalist who described himself as neutral brought himself to angry tears as he stood up to proclaim a victory against the counter-revolution. “We feel the trust that has been placed in us,” Abd al-Ati said. “We remember the martyrs and Egyptians who went of their volition to vote in the first free presidential election.” It was all about to wind down when Abd al-Ati suddenly stuck his head to the microphone and announced a “nice surprise” was on its way.
Two lines of young FJP Mursilites formed along the carpet near the door holding hands and red ribbons to clear a corridor, and there was pandemonium as Mursi apparently appeared at the door then withdrew. Everyone jumped on chairs and pulled out cameras. Over the next 10 minutes, organizers beseeched people to sit and the Mursilites manning the carpet space went through a series of welcoming chants until they fixed on the national anthem. Finally, the man of the moment padded in waving his arm. Chaos ensued while hardly anyone could get a good view of him, since he’s not so tall. When he got the podium, a surge of people hid him from view again.
When he finally managed to speak Mursi seemed oratorically stretched. He spoke haltingly and in cliches, repeatedly addressing himself to mothers, fathers, brothers, women, Muslim, Christians, Azharites, churches and history itself. The rhetoric repeated the reactive campaign messages that tried to reassure people and respond to criticisms, plus a dig at the military council that earlier that night had usurped key presidential prerogatives and took charge of the process of producing a new constitution. “We’re not here to take revenge or settle scores,” he said. “It is (everyone’s) right to expect me to be a brother, father and Egyptian citizen like them who shares their concerns and serves… I stand at an equal distance from everyone. There is no difference for me between everyone, as long as they respect the law, constitution and loves their country… Those who said yes to me or no to me are sons of Egypt, my people and my tribe, and they have a place in my heart.” He even had a message of peace (for Israel or lest Mars Attacks?): “We should work together for a better future, freedom, democracy, development and peace. We come with a message of peace to all who love peace in this world.”
Thus Spake Mursi. He was bustled of the room in scenes of chaos similar to his arrival, waving his arm though it was hard to see him as the Mursilites protected him. Outside a crowd began to gather and signs songs, though it wasn’t too big because the party building is located inside the heavily protected security zone around the Interior Ministry and parliament building and the masses are not meant to feel welcome there. A few police officers came over to watch from the sidelines, but most sat nonchalantly around the checkpoints further down the road alongside the army tanks. Party officials came out onto the various balconies of the three-storey building and watched the festivities but Mursi wasn’t among them. He was bustled out the front of the building and disappeared.
Not long after that, the crowd became excited as a large black car drove through bearing Brotherhood preacher Safwat Hegazy – he of the “new caliphate based in Jerusalem” rhetorical turn during the campaign. He brought his electric window down to receive the congratulations of well-wishers.
