Saturday, June 30, 2012

Mursi sworn in as first elected president of Egypt

Egypt, has its fateful day, its elected  president by the people, Mohammed Mursi has been sworn in as the first freely elected President of the country. The swearing in ceremony took place before the Supreme Constitutional Court in Cairo on Saturday. He will be addressing the nation for the first time as the President of Egypt before Cairo University shortly.

The oath taking ceremony took place before 19 member Supreme Constitutional Court in Cairo a short while ago.  Mohammed Mursi is a US educated Engineer from Nile delta who rose from a humble background to the highest ranks of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood. The first civilian President of Egypt will have to contend with the military which has assumed sweeping powers.

Mohamed Mursi to be sworn in Saturday before the Constitutional Court, the presidency announced after differences with the army over the transfer of power. Mursi “will go at 11 am (0900 GMT) Saturday to the Constitutional Court to take the oath before the Court’s general assembly,” said a statement released by the official MENA news agency. Mursi thereafter  go on to Cairo University to celebrate his investiture and address the nation, the statement added. Egypt’s president traditionally takes the oath in parliament, but the country’s top court has ordered the disbanding of the Islamist-dominated legislature.

  By agreeing to be sworn in by the Constitutional Court, Mursi is effectively acknowledging the court’s decision to dissolve parliament.The Muslim Brotherhood, which fielded Mursi as its candidate in the election and from which he resigned after his victory, had insisted that the oath be taken before the legislature.

A debate around the issue of swearing in and attempts are being made to reach a compromise that will satisfy all national forces,” MENA quoted Mursi’s spokesman Yasser Ali as saying earlier. Egypt’s first civilian president, and the first elected since an uprising ousted president Hosni Mubarak last year, still has to contend with the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.The SCAF, which took control after Mubarak resigned, will retain broad powers even after it formally transfers control to Mursi.

 ”Media reports said Mursi was consulting a cross-section of Egyptian society before appointing a premier and a cabinet mostly made up of technocrats and work on new a constitution

Mursi, the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate, read the oath before the Supreme Constitutional Court, and then speak at Cairo University, before going to an army base for the handover from military rule.Transfer of power  at the Heikstep base by Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, former defence minister for two decades, to hand over to Mursi,thus  making way for an elected president by July 1.

Mursi, the first President since the king was toppled by army officers in 1952 who was not drawn from top military ranks. Muslim Brotherhood, an outfit which propelled Mursi to office, it marks a dramatic reversal of fortunes after decades of repression. He was to be sworn in at 11 a.m. (CET) by the constitutional court, rather than by parliament as is usual.


Mursi took an informal oath of office on Friday in a speech to supporters in Cairo's Tahrir Square, in a slap at the generals trying to limit his power.Paying tribute to Egypt's Muslims and Christians alike, Mursi symbolically swore himself in as the country's first elected civilian president.Mursi, who won a run-off election earlier this month, was received with applause by the tens of thousands of people gathered in the birthplace of the revolt that overthrew dictator Hosni Mubarak last year.He promised a "civilian state" and praised "the square of the revolution, the square of freedom," in what he called an address to "the free world, Arabs, Muslims... the Muslims of Egypt, Christians of Egypt."
"There is no power above people power," the former Muslim Brotherhood figure declared to wild cheers from the crowd."I was one of you and I still am, and I will continue to always be one of you. I came to you because I believe that you are the source of power and legitimacy above all sides," he added.
 Thus Muris had sworn in at Tahrir Square in front of his supporters where he pledged to form a civilian, nationalist and constitutional Government where power flows from the people of Egypt -Muslims and Christians alike.
Media agencies

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