Mohamed Badie, the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood (Photo: Reuters)
The Muslim Brotherhood’s supreme guide, Mohamed Badie, gave an interview on Al-Mehwar TV on Monday, during which he discussed the political and social future of Egypt under what is likely to be an Islamist-dominated government.
Egypt is in midst of the first of three rounds of voting in parliamentary elections, in which the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) and the ultra-conservative Salafist Nour Party are expected to poll over 50 per cent of votes.
“There is nothing in Islam called a religious state because Islam has a civilian nature,” Badie explained, in response to a question about the possible creation of an Islamic state under an FJP-lead government.
“Our project is not the Islamisation of Egypt because Egypt already is a Muslim country.”
Regarding the parliament, Badie said the FJP did not want to monopolise decision making and wanted to partner with other political powers in building a new Egypt. He added that the FJP would not rule Egypt alone and noted that it had offered 45 political parties the chance to join its Democratic Alliance electoral lists.
“We prefer a semi-presidential system,” said Badie, when asked about next year’s presidential elections, why the Brotherhood had not put forward a candidate, and why it would prefer someone from outside the Islamist current to get the job.
There has been much discussion about Egypt’s future political system. Some fear a parliamentary system because parliament is likely to be dominated by Islamists, whilst others think a presidential system would put too much power in the hands of one person.
A semi-presidential system, as advocated by the Brotherhood, would allocate the parliament and the president equal powers, such as in France.
The eighth supreme guide of the Brotherhood praised the ruling military junta (SCAF) for protecting the revolution, and added that the popularity of SCAF had increased recently because it had responded to the political demands of the people.
Badie denied widely circulating rumours of a political deal between the Brotherhood and SCAF. “The Muslim Brotherhood refused to grant SCAF more powers than the people when it rejected the El-Selmi supra-constitutional principles document, which gave the military excessive powers in its controversial articles 9 and 10."
"I challenge anyone to prove such a deal ever existed," he said.
He also denied there would be a clash between SCAF and the Brotherhood over the formation of a government and the parliament’s powers, as some are speculating, adding the people would not vote for a parliament if they thought it would have no power.
Badie made this comment after some members of SCAF said the majority party in the upcoming parliament would not form the cabinet.
Indeed, under the rules set out in the constitutional declaration, which was issued by SCAF in March, only the president (whose powers are currently executed by the military council) has the exclusive right to form a government.
On a different note, Badie defended the Brotherhood’s decision not to participate in the 18 November protest in Tahrir Square or the Mohamed Mahmoud Street clashes that ensued, claiming that its participation would merely have increased the number of martyrs.
The supreme guide, who was imprisoned during the Mubarak era, stated that if any former Mubarak-era officials felt genuine remorse, they would return the money they had stolen, and then the Brotherhood and the Egyptian people would forgive them.
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