The same Economist that supports Buhari also supported the Muslim brotherhood in Egypt! The rest, they say, is history!


THE likely choice of candidates in the run-off on June 16th and 17th to decide who will be Egypt's next president is not what The Economist had hoped for. That is hardly surprising, since we incline towards liberalism, and the Arab spring has not fostered it in the Arab world's biggest country.

Amr Moussa, the diplomat we supported in the first round, was trounced, and Egyptians now have a wretched choice between Muhammad Morsi, a dreary Muslim Brother who narrowly won the first round, and Ahmed Shafiq, a former air-force chief and standard-bearer for the Mubarak old guard.

Even now the contest is plagued by uncertainty. As we went to press, the supreme court was due to rule on whether to exclude Mr Shafiq from the run-off because of his role in the old regime. Such a chaotic debut for democracy would tempt ordinary Egyptians to pine for the brutal certitudes of Mr Mubarak's rule. Better that the vote take place—and that Mr Morsi, the Muslim Brother, become president of the Arab world's biggest country.

People are nervous of the Muslim Brothers. Many secular-minded Arabs fear that if ever they gained power they would never let go. However slickly the Islamists repackage themselves, a strain of intolerance runs through them, particularly in religion. Egypt's 8m Christians, about 10% of the population, are understandably anxious—not least because, to get elected, Mr Morsi will need the support not just of the Brothers but also of the Salafists, a far more worrying band of Islamists who hark back to the puritanism of the Prophet Muhammad's era and who have amassed an alarming degree of popular support in the new Egypt. Already, the Brothers and the Salafists hold a majority in Egypt's parliament. Should a Muslim Brother become president, the risk is that the Islamists will then ride roughshod over the rest. That is the fear of many secular Egyptians; and Israelis are worried too.

But these fears look overblown. Islamism in the Arab world now covers a wide spectrum; and its sensible end has fast been evolving from a radical, violent strain into a modern, outward-looking variant. In Tunisia a party close to the Brothers won power and has started well. In Morocco a similar party has served in coalition, albeit under the king's writ. Even the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brothers, Hamas, has been groping towards practical politics (see article). Above all, in Egypt, the Brothers have gone out of their way to shed intolerance and bigotry, espousing—at least on paper—rights for women and Christians, and promising not to close down bars on tourist beaches or ban the wearing of bikinis.

Doubts linger. No one knows how the Islamists would treat minorities if they controlled both arms of government, or how they would revamp the judiciary. On some occasions, Mr Morsi has seemed to back a witch hunt against members of the former regime of Hosni Mubarak; on others, he sounds like a puppet being manipulated behind the scenes.

If there were a decent secular candidate, we would vote for him. But Mr Shafiq, whose mantra is a call for stability and a crackdown on crime, would be a throwback to repression. He was Mr Mubarak's last prime minister, and is unrepentant about the sins of the past government. Mr Shafiq seeks to defend what is known as the “deep state”: the military and security establishment that has clung to power since Mr Mubarak's fall. Since then Egyptians in uniform have continued to abuse their powers and spit on human rights.

Better let them rule

Mr Shafiq's campaign has been incompetent. He has espoused crassly populist policies, promising to cancel the debts of farmers. He has spread fear, insinuating that charities are foreign agents and that Islamists will create a bullying Iranian-style revolutionary guard. His desire to shut the Islamists out of power, whatever the popular will, is alarming. Experience shows that forcing them underground only adds to their mystique and saves them from the responsibilities of office.

It is unfortunate that after all the hope and anguish of the past 18 months Egyptians are presented with a choice between the deep state and the Brotherhood. Yet it does not mean that the revolution has failed. Under Mr Mubarak, the country was suffocating. Egyptians now can at least say what they want and vote for whomever they like. If they opt for Mr Morsi and the Brothers, they face a future full of risks. But that is better than a return to the oppressive past under Mr Shafiq.

http://www.economist.com/node/21556941

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-economist-has-endorses-the-muslim-brotherhood-in-this-weekends-egyptian-election-2012-6