When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

You've reach your limit of free articles.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime.

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Ad-free experience NEW

Exclusive international news coverage

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Monthly Access

30-day free trial, then $2.90 per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch
Egypt

Muslim Brotherhood Claims Presidential Victory In Egypt, Army Pushes Back

Worldcrunch

AL MASRY AL YOUM (Egypt), AL ARABIYA (Saudi Arabia), THE GUARDIAN (UK)

CAIRO - Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Morsi claimed a narrow victory in the Egyptian presidential elections Monday, but pushback from his opponent and constitutional maneuvering from the Army leave Egypt's democratic transition as fragile as ever.

Morsi garnered 51.13 percent of the vote with 99 percent of the ballots counted, according to Al Masry Al Youm's affiliate, Egypt Independent. His opponent Ahmed Shafik, former presdident Hosni Mubarak's last Prime Minister and the Army's favored candidate, talllied 48.87 percent.

"Thanks be to God who has guided Egypt's people to the path of freedom and democracy, uniting the Egyptians for a better future," Morsi said in a speech at his campaign headquarters. He said he would be the president of all Egyptians.

The Muslim Brotherhood also announced their victory on their official Twitter account.

Shafik's aides quickly contested the results, Al Arabiya reports. A campaign official rejected the Brotherhood's proclaimed victory and told reporters it was a "hijacking of the election results."

Military authorities were even quicker to act, announcing important constitutional changes late on Sunday night when early results pointed to a Brotherhood victory. The Guardian reports that these changes strengthen the Army's political power in an attempt to negate the outcome of this weekend's election.

The Supreme Council of Armed Forces, or SCAF, has effectively awarded itself legislative powers in the process of writing a new constitution, including a veto over any clause it deems contrary to Egypt's interests. This "judicial coup" comes after a surprise ruling last week by the Supreme Constitutional Court that invalidated a third of the seats in the Islamist dominated lower house of Parliament, forcing a dissolution.

In addition to the Army clamp on presidential powers, the first democratically elected leader of Egypt will face economic and political challenges. Many Egyptians who gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square last year to overthrow Mubarak's regime feel that both Morsi and Shafik represent conservative forces opposed to the revolution.

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Geopolitics

Why The Latin American Far Left Can't Stop Cozying Up To Iran's Regime

Among the Islamic Republic of Iran's very few diplomatic friends are too many from Latin America's left, who are always happy to milk their cash-rich allies for all they are worth.

Image of Bolivia's ambassador in Tehran, Romina Pérez Ramos.

Bolivia's ambassador in Tehran, Romina Pérez Ramos.

Bolivia's embassy in Tehran/Facebook
Bahram Farrokhi

-OpEd-

The Latin American Left has an incurable anti-Yankee fever. It is a sickness seen in the baffling support given by the socialist regimes of Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela or Bolivia to the Islamic Republic of Iran, which to many exemplifies clerical fascism. And all for a single, crass reason: together they hate the United States.

The Islamic Republic has so many of the traits the Left used to hate and fight in the 20th century: a religious (Islamic) vocation, medieval obscurantism, misogyny... Its kleptocratic economy has turned bog-standard class divisions into chasmic inequalities reminiscent of colonial times.

This support is, of course, cynical and in line with the mandates of realpolitik. The regional master in this regard is communist Cuba, which has peddled its anti-imperialist discourse for 60 years, even as it awaits another chance at détente with its ever wealthy neighbor.

I reflected on this on the back of recent remarks by Bolivia's ambassador in Tehran, the 64-year-old Romina Pérez Ramos. She must be the busiest diplomat in Tehran right now, and not a day goes by without her going, appearing or speaking somewhere, with all the publicity she can expect from the regime's media.

Keep reading...Show less

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

You've reach your limit of free articles.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime.

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Ad-free experience NEW

Exclusive international news coverage

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Monthly Access

30-day free trial, then $2.90 per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch

The latest