Tuesday’s papers have a list of disasters to choose from, so much so that on its front page, Al-Watan lists “the crises holding Egypt hostage” in numerical, bullet-point form: the new president and appeals concerning election irregularities, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces’ supplement to the Constitutional Declaration and the dissolution of Parliament.
Two former MPs, Mohamed al-Omda and Mahmoud al-Khodeiry, made an attempt to enter Parliament on Monday but were prevented from doing so by security.
Government mouthpiece Al-Gomhurriya reports this on its second page, accompanied by a comment below by another former MP, Ihab Ramzy, who describes the action as “a challenge to the law.” Ramzy says MPs are obliged to respect the law to set examples for others, and that the Supreme Constitutional Court decision dissolving Parliament must be respected.
Ramzy also defends the recent amendment to the Constitutional Declaration, saying SCAF resorted to this “when it felt the majority [in the Constitutional Assembly] would produce a constitution unsuitable for the Egyptian people.”
Al-Watan says the office of the Muslim Brotherhood’s supreme guide and the executive office of its political branch, the Freedom and Justice Party, have agreed to take to the streets if negotiations with SCAF about the current political situation do not bear fruit.
Al-Tahrir’s Ibrahim Mansour launches a scathing attack on the Muslim Brotherhood and its presidential candidate, Mohamed Morsy, in his column today. Early poll results show Morsy won more than 52 percent of the vote.
Mansour says Egyptians who voted for former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq did so “out of hatred for the Muslim Brotherhood, its performance after the revolution, its doing of deals and its selling out of the revolution and revolutionaries.”
Voters “forgave” Morsy for many things, Mansour says: his being the “spare” candidate after Khairat al-Shater; that he was dishonest about the American nationality of his two children; his history of poor health and “the lie spread by his campaign that he was a scientist in the US working for NASA.”
“The man only denied this after NASA denied knowing anyone called Mohamed Morsy,” Mansour writes.
There is a similar tone in Al-Wafd which on its front page declares that “the Muslim Brotherhood and the military are preparing for the Battle of Parliament.”
Below this is a headline reading, “ ‘The group’ [the Muslim Brotherhood] is mobilizing supporters to storm the People’s Assembly,” accompanied by a picture of Omda and Khodeiry’s attempt to enter Parliament.
On its opinion page, Al-Wafd has a column titled “Go to Hell, Assembly” by Essam al-Abeedy that serves as another platform to attack the Brotherhood.
“I haven’t seen happiness on Egyptians’ faces in the past year and a half like the happiness I witnessed last Thursday when the Supreme Constitutional Court issued its judgment on the invalidity of the People’s Assembly and consequent dissolution of it and the end of its existence,” Abeedy writes.
Al-Watan reports in a headline that churches are “not afraid of a religious state.” It quotes an Anglican Church representative as saying that Christians are not worried about the Brotherhood presidential candidate winning the election because “their fate is in the hands of God.”
The office of the Coptic Orthodox Church’s papacy has refused to comment on the Muslim Brotherhood winning the presidency.
Al-Shorouk publishes reactions to the amendment to the Constitutional Declaration from human rights activists and political commentators.
Ahmed Ragheb, executive director of the Hisham Mubarak Law Center, describes the amendment as “legal thuggery.” Ragheb suggests it will lead to SCAF being “the true ruler of Egypt” while the president “will most likely work as a secretary for SCAF.”
Meanwhile, analyst and former MP Wahid Abdel Meguid says, “It was clear weeks ago that SCAF doesn’t intend to hand over power on 30 June. The publication of the amendment to the Constitutional Declaration at this time confirms this.”
Egypt’s papers:
Al-Ahram: Daily, state-run, largest distribution in Egypt
Al-Akhbar: Daily, state-run, second to Al-Ahram in institutional size
Al-Gomhurriya: Daily, state-run
Rose al-Youssef: Daily, state-run
Al-Dostour: Daily, privately owned
Al-Shorouk: Daily, privately owned
Al-Watan: Daily, privately owned
Al-Wafd: Daily, published by the liberal Wafd Party
Youm7: Daily, privately owned
Al-Tahrir: Daily, privately owned
Freedom and Justice: Daily, published by the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party
Sawt al-Umma: Weekly, privately owned
Al-Arabi: Weekly, published by the Nasserist Party
Al-Nour: Official paper of the Salafi Nour Party
