Mursi Victory Brings Celebration to Tahrir Square Protesters

Relief at Shafiq's Defeat, But Fight Over Presidential Power Continues

The announcement of the final results of Egypt’s presidential election sparked a wave of celebratory cheers in Tahrir Square, and relief among the tens of thousands gathered there that Ahmed Shafiq, the self-proclaimed admirer of Hosni Mubarak, was not declared victorious.

President-elect Dr. Mohamed Mursi will be inaugurated by the end of the month as the first civilian president in the nation’s long history. The celebratory period will likely be brief, however, as questions over the division of power remain unanswered.

Indeed, it was the division of power that brought the tens of thousands of demonstrators to Tahrir Square earlier this week in the first place, an angry response to the military junta’s disbanding of parliament and declaring itself the sole legislative power in the nation last weekend.

Mursi has already engaged in a war of words with the junta over the past few weeks, promising to see the nation transitioned from military to civilian rule. With parliament already gone this could be an uphill battle, but is one that is sure to remain the foremost concern in Egyptian politics.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.