Egypt’s Mursi faces tough tasks ahead
One and half year after the popular Arab uprisings blew away Hosni Mubarak from power, Egyptians have elected bearded 60-year-old Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood as the country's new president. The new president, to be enthroned early July, assumes office following the controversial divisive and tightly contested general elections.
The victory also comes a time when his predecessor Mubarak is reported in a coma suffering from stroke while in detention. The situation is made farcical by uneasy tension and shadow-boxing between the ruling Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) and the new political party in power-the Muslim Brotherhood.
Despite historic victory in which Mursi was on Sunday declared Egypt’s first civilian president, he still has to contend with a ruling military seeking to retain broad powers and with a precarious economy. The Muslim Brotherhood that fielded Mursi in the election to replace ousted Hosni Mubarak has said it would press on with a sit-in to pressure the ruling generals lead by Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi to relinquish more powers to Mursi.