[ 2012-06-30 ]

Egypt's President Morsi sworn in
CAIRO (AFP) - President Mohamed Morsi took the
oath of office on Saturday to become Egypt's first
freely elected leader and its first head of state
since Hosni Mubarak's overthrow last year.

"I swear by the Almighty God to sincerely preserve
the republican order and to respect the
constitution and law, and completely care for the
people's interest," he said at the ceremony in the
Constitutional Court.

Clad in a suit and burgundy tie, he promised to
lead a "civil, constitutional and modern state" in
a short speech after taking the oath.

Morsi, the winner of a June 16-17 election
run-off, was forced to take his oath at the court
instead of in parliament after the military
disbanded the Islamist-led house following a court
order earlier this month.

He already symbolically took his oath on Friday
before tens of thousands of supporters in Cairo's
Tahrir Square, epicentre of the revolt that
overthrew Mubarak on February 11, 2011.

After the swearing in ceremony, Morsi headed to
Cairo University to give his first presidential
address.

Morsi, who resigned from the Muslim Brotherhood
movement after winning the election, now faces a
struggle with the military that oversaw the
transition after Mubarak's overthrow and which
insists on retaining broad powers.

"I renounce none of the prerogatives of
president," he said in his address in Tahrir
Square. "You are the source of power and
legitimacy," he told his supporters.

"There is no place for anyone or any
institution... above this will."

The military has assumed parliament's powers after
disbanding it and also formed a powerful national
security council headed by the president but
dominated by generals.

By agreeing to be sworn in by the Constitutional
Court, Morsi in effect recognised the court's
decision to dissolve parliament after the court
ruled that a third of the house had been elected
illegally.

The military also reserves the right to appoint a
new constituent assembly should the one elected by
parliament be disbanded by a court decision
expected on September 1.

The Muslim Brotherhood insists only parliament can
appoint the assembly.

Media reports said Morsi was consulting a
cross-section of Egyptian society before
appointing a premier and a cabinet mostly made up
of technocrats.

In a meeting with newspaper editors reported by
most dailies on Friday, Morsi pledged there would
be "no Islamisation of state institutions" during
his presidency.

Morsi has already met Egypt's military ruler Field
Marshal Hussein Tantawi, as well as a delegation
from the Sunni body Al-Azhar, and another
representing Egypt's Coptic church.

International Monetary Fund chief Christine
Lagarde has told Morsi the lender stands ready to
help Egypt, whose tourism-dependent economy took a
battering in the upheaval that accompanied
Mubarak's overthrow, a spokeswoman said on
Friday.

As his successor took the oath, the ousted
strongman was in a Cairo military hospital, in low
morale and slipping in and out of a coma,
according to hospital officials.

"The former president has been greatly affected by
the news of Morsi's presidential victory," said
one official at the hospital where Mubarak was
transferred last week from a prison where he had
been serving a life sentence over his involvement
in the deaths of hundreds of protesters in the
uprising.

Morsi became the Brotherhood's candidate to
succeed Mubarak only after its first choice
Khairat El-Shater was disqualified. He beat Ahmed
Shafiq, Mubarak's last premier, with 51.73 percent
of the vote.

Many had written Morsi off as an uncharismatic
substitute, saying he would be unable to muster
widespread support.

But the powerful Brotherhood mobilised its
formidable resources and supporters behind Morsi,
who was appointed last year to head its political
arm, the Freedom and Justice Party.

In a 2005 election, which gave the Brotherhood one
fifth of places in parliament, Morsi kept his
seat. But he was soon arrested and jailed for
seven months after taking part in protests
supporting reformist judges.

By the 2010 election, Mursi had become a spokesman
for the Islamists and a member of their politburo.

Source - AFP

... go Back