Egypt held its first democratic elections since the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak, and Islamist parties won nearly 75 percent of the seats in parliament. This move gives the Muslim Brotherhood the leading role among a collation of Islamic parties that dominated the popular vote of the one-time moderate Muslim nation.
More troubling is the 25 percent of the seats won by the Taliban like ultraconservative Al-Nour Party. The fantasy of a more liberal and pro-western Egypt just took a huge smack in the face by the reality of Egypt’s voting public.
The U.S. has been in talks with the brotherhood for quite some time. Not all of the U.S. policymakers have been supportive of the decision of the Obama administration to give legitimacy to the Muslim Brotherhood. In June, Rep Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said “Given its radical and violent ideology, it is deeply disturbing that the Muslim Brotherhood would be recognized in any way as a legitimate political entity.” Those warnings have fallen on deaf ears of the Obama administration that expected the young pro-western people of Egypt to cease power.
In February 2011 President Barack Obama demanded Egyptian President Mubarak step down. President Obama said “An orderly transition must be meaningful. It must be peaceful and it must begin now.” President Obama went on to say he heard the Egyptian protestors’ voices and that they were an inspiration to the world. President Obama was speaking primarily to the young people of Egypt.
Now, less than a year later, those same young Egyptian voices will be silenced. The democratic process that America demanded has swept the Muslim Brotherhood to power in one of America’s strongest allies in the region. The liberal groups have no power in the Islamist dominated parliament. The head of the liberal party said the liberals will take to the streets in protest to have their voices heard. The Muslim Brotherhood has different ideas of how things are going to be done. A spokesman said the street and the parliament are now on the same team. He went on to say that issues will be handled by Parliament and not by the street.
President Obama made sure to call Egypt’s ruling military leader, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, to welcome the historic seating of Egypt’s Parliament. The State Department has been and will continue talking with the Muslim Brotherhood.
In turn the Muslim Brotherhood has said it is committed to the democratic process and the rights of minorities. The ADL’s website states the Muslim Brotherhood’s goal is to establish a theocracy in Egypt, the Middle East and ultimately worldwide. We will soon find out who is right about the Brotherhood.