Muslim Brotherhood in post-Mubarak electoral politics of Egypt

Beginning with the 2011 Egyptian revolution, through the parliamentary election, the presidential election, and the unsettled situation that followed, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt had been the main force contesting, at times reluctantly, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) and other established centers of the former Hosni Mubarak regime for political power in Egypt. The Supreme Council made a series of moves aimed at minimizing the Brotherhood's influence and depriving it of its newly acquired institutional power base. The post-Mubarak ruling establishment, attempting to thwart the Brotherhood's claim to governing, went as far as nullifying the outcome of the national parliamentary election under a legal pretext. However, one of the Brotherhood's leaders, Mohamed Morsi, was recognized as the winner of the presidential election that followed and assumed office on June 30, 2012. Morsi became the first democratically elected and first civilian President of Egypt. At the outset of his presidency, numerous critical issues were unresolved, including the status of the disbanded parliament and the sweeping powers granted by the military council to itself. The Brotherhood was formulating its response and working on a strategy for protecting its electoral gains in a new situation, when one of their own holds the highest elected office. Having come to power as a revolutionary force, but being historically pragmatic and moderately conservative, they now had a stake also in protecting the constitutional and legal continuity of the state.

The Muslim Brotherhood, successful in getting Egyptian votes, is often criticized by other leaders and factions of the Egyptian revolution and is generally presented with misgivings by Western media, which, in their coverage of the Arab Spring, tend to favor the more secular and Westernized elements.

A power struggle and contest of wills have been taking place between the Muslim Brotherhood and the "old elite" and increasingly other segments of Egyptian society, including many leaders and activists of the recent Egyptian revolution. The remaining centers of power of the former authoritarian regime, determined to block a Brotherhood-led government, sought to subordinate and silence, through military intimidation and pseudo-legal pronouncements, the only nationally representative governmental bodies: the parliament and then the president.

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