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Mursi Ousted as Egypt’s President; Constitution Suspended
By Tarek El-Tablawy & Mariam Fam - Jul 4, 2013 5:56 AM GMT+0800
Fireworks light the sky opponents of Egypt's Islamist President Mohammed Morsi celebrate in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, on July 3, 2013.
Defense Minister Abdelfatah al-Seesi announced in a televised broadcast this evening that the constitution will be suspended and an early presidential election held after Mursi failed to meet the demands of an ultimatum set just over 48 hours ago.
“The president’s speech last night failed to meet and conform with the demands” of the people, prompting the armed forces to consult “with some of the symbols of the national forces and the youths without excluding anyone,” the defense minister said. They agreed on a road map “that includes initial steps that realize the building of a strong and coherent Egyptian society.”
The news drew an explosion of cheering in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, where hundreds of thousands had massed for the past four days in a bid to push Mursi from office. Fireworks lit up the night sky above the square, the center of the movement that forced Hosni Mubarak from power in 2011, in a scene mirrored across town outside the presidential palace where Mursi had worked.
Six people were killed and 187 injured in clashes between supporters and opponents of Mursi after the army’s statement, the ambulance service said.
Mursi’s Rejection
Mursi, 61, “urges civilians and military members to uphold the law and the constitution not to accept that coup which turns Egypt backwards,” his office said in Twitter postings. “Armed Forces announcement is rejected by all free men who struggled for a civil democratic Egypt.”
“The military forced an elected leader out of power," Shadi Hamid, director of research at the Brookings Doha Center, said in a telephone interview. “If that’s not a coup, what is?”
A technocratic government will be formed, and the head of the Supreme Constitutional Court will be in charge of running the country’s affairs “during the transitional period and until a new president is elected,” al-Seesi said.
The interim job will go to Adly Mansour, who took up his job as the court’s chief justice on July 1. He was appointed to the court, which clashed repeatedly with Mursi over the past year, in 1992. Mansour, who was born in 1945, will be sworn in tomorrow morning as interim president, state media reported citing court spokesman Maher Sami.
Religious Backing
Seated behind al-Seesi for the television address were various political figures including Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, Coptic Pope Tawadros II and the head of Al-Azhar, the Sunni Muslim world’s pre-eminent religious institution. Their presence reflected widespread resentment toward Mursi and Muslim Brotherhood rule that critics say ran the nation into the ground,
Al-Seesi, in explaining the military’s move, laid out a litany of failures he ascribed to the presidency, most linked to its rejection of efforts to broker national consensus and reconciliation.
With Egypt’s growth already near the weakest in two decades, unemployment stands at a record 13.2 percent. Egypt’s benchmark bonds tumbled today, pushing the yield to a record, as stocks and forward contracts for the pound dropped before the military announcement and after Mursi rebuffed the army deadline.
Unemployment Pledge
Mursi took office promising to attract outside investment and reduce unemployment below 7 percent by 2016. International reserves have fallen to $16 billion. Tourism, the lifeblood of Egypt’s economy, is plunging.
The military has formed the backbone of Egypt’s political power since 1952, when a group of officers led by Gamal Abdel Nasser overthrew King Farouk, following widespread rioting against the monarchy, social inequality and the British presence in Egypt. Before its deadline elapsed today, the army deployed troops and tanks around Cairo before its deadline elapsed.
Before the army announcement, Mursi had signaled his renewed rejection of calls for his resignation, offering instead a “clear and safe road map that is based on constitutional legitimacy that Egyptians built together,” according to an e-mailed statement from his office. He suggested an interim coalition government, saying that “this is our way to go forward so that the Egyptians can have their say through the ballot box” in parliamentary elections.
Lost Legitimacy
For the secularists, youth activists and others who have massed against him and the Muslim Brotherhood, Mursi lost his legitimacy with repeated attempts to entrench the Islamists’ power at the expense of the nation’s need for an economic revival and social justice.
“The real danger here is if some Muslim Brotherhood members resort to violence, the army will use that as a pretext to use real repression and to crack down aggressively on the Brotherhood,” Hamid said. “The Brotherhood has to be very careful in this crucial window and not resort to violence.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Mariam Fam in Cairo at [email protected]; Tarek El-Tablawy in Cairo at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at [email protected]
