Muslim Brotherhood’s Mahmoud Hussein: Opposition Does Not Believe in Democracy

Muslim Brotherhood’s Mahmoud Hussein: Opposition Does Not Believe in Democracy

In an interview with the Egyptian newspaper ‘Akhbar Al-Youm’ (News of the day) in its Saturday issue, Dr. Mahmoud Hussein, Secretary General of the Muslim Brotherhood, highlighted a number of important points and explained several others on the course of events in Egypt:


I believe the June 30 protest events will pass like all others, God willing. The real size of this intended demonstration is very much lower than portrayed in hostile media.There are deliberate attempts by the media to describe this event as mobilizing the people of Egypt. And this is incorrect. We live in the cities and villages of Egypt, and see the people and deal with them. The real situation on the ground indicates that the people have nothing to do with the media hype among the so-called elite; and therefore these attempts will not succeed.   


Illegal acts of road-blocking and thuggery are clearly decreasing. It is true, these have not completely stopped, but that is due to the presence of Deep State holdovers and beneficiaries of the former regime. Those still wreak havoc in Egypt, desperately trying to incite and foment a counter-revolution and to overcome the January 25 Revolution.


The opposition is important and required, but with proper tools, using peaceful methods for political practice and adopting projects to address real problems in the homeland.


But this is not happening. The evidence is that to-date we have not heard of any solutions – from the opposition – to any problem faced by the homeland. As a citizen, I ask myself: “If this opposition came to power, will it give me solutions? Will it solve the problem of security, bread, transportation and fuel?” So far, the answer is no, absolutely. Because this opposition does not offer any solutions.


The Muslim Brotherhood does not rule Egypt. The President of Egypt, who was elected by the people, is the leader who governs this county. The President governs through state institutions, some of which have been rebuilt, and some have not. But even those institutions that have been rebuilt, such as the Shura Council (upper house of Egypt’s Parliament) and the Cabinet, are still facing problems thrown up by Deep State hangovers in control of various key parts of the State.


Thus, we cannot say that PM Hesham Qandil and his government fully control the course of events in the country. Evidently, there are daily crises across Egypt resulting from accumulations of past corruption and negligence and so on; while some crises are fabricated to complicate the situation. Thus, it is not possible for the government or any government to operate with full efficiency, because of this climate, filled with uncertainty and instability.


I do not mean that no achievements are to be expected or demanded of the current government; but that these will achievements will be limited. Proof of this is that, although only less than a year has passed of the President’s term in office, we find that it has been bluntly challenged with numerous crises and problems. We can also see that the President and the government have dealt aptly with all those crises and issues. Any fair-minded person must recognize that.


We cannot put all opposition forces or parties in the same trench. However, I am quite sure that there is already a counter-revolution at work in Egypt. There are many indications that confirm beyond doubt that there are some who do not want stability for this country.


While there are patriotic and genuine opposition groups and movements, there certainly are individuals who take advantage of this opposition for their own purposes, declaring themselves as genuine opposition when they are not. Thus, we cannot put all these in one place. They are not all patriotic opposition, but not all of them are fake either; and not all of them are involved with the counter-revolution.


As for June 30, it will be a normal day of protests by the Egyptian opposition. Not more than that. Perhaps even less than that. We have witnessed and lived through many events already, where the media paints a much larger than reality picture – as happened on May 17, and the Itehadia Presidential Palace incidents. They all ended in relative calm. If anything, this proves that the Egyptian people are preoccupied with something other than the attempts of sabotage, anarchy and destruction some are desperately working for.


This does not mean we should not prepare for that day, especially if we take into account threats of violent attacks against Muslim Brotherhood HQs. We will not allow anyone to attack our HQs in any way. We will defend them with all our strength.


On the other hand, defense of the President and the legitimacy of state institutions is up to the whole people. Millions who chose this President will defend the State. The people will never allow anyone to destroy their homeland. The entire Egyptian people will rise and fend off any assaults on legitimacy.


Demands for early presidential elections are simply delusional proposals that express certain individuals’ innermost yearnings to be in power, although we do have a system and a constitution, we had elections, the Constitutional Declaration has set the presidential election, its duration, and terms of candidacy, and the President has been elected on the basis of his election platform. The President should be given a chance to complete his term in office. If he fails, we’d thank him. If he does well, great.


By contrast, talking about collecting signatures for one person or another, or saying that there are 50 or 60 people calling for early presidential elections… all this reflects incorrect understanding of democracy and its principles.


Increasing the retirement age of judges was a bribe for certain judges under the former regime. Some call the effort to correct this situation "massacre of the judiciary", when in fact it is reforming some mistake that must be corrected.


It is also said that sons of members of judicial bodies must become judges and the sons of doctors have to become doctors. This is corruption that must be corrected. The Revolution is meant to reform such corrupt situations.


I believe Egypt is heading into bright horizons of stability, progress and prosperity. There are signals and signs to confirm this, including the fact that there are greater freedoms – or no-one would’ve been able to attack Itehadia Presidential Palace or harshly criticize the existing regime. Indeed, everyone is talking their heads off now, some even insult the President – viciously. Some of these are acts of immorality not freedom, which we strongly condemn.


So far, no-one has been detained outside the law. And until now, no Presidential or government procession disrupted traffic in any street in all of Egypt, which contrasts sharply with the previous regime where we used to face traffic disruptions for five or six hours (at least).


Surely, there are achievements – albeit limited, for the reasons above – such as increasing wheat production and freezing prices of some products, in addition to raising salaries, despite the crushing crises. In fact, there are many signs that show we are making progress, albeit slow.


I believe the future is promising, and the Egyptian people will see a very strong and real renaissance in a very short time, God willing.