A supporter of Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsy holds a poster that reads, “The people support legitimacy for the president,” during a rally in Cairo on Wednesday, July 3. On Monday, the Egyptian military gave Morsy a 48-hour ultimatum to accommodate his opponents with a power-sharing agreement or be pushed aside. 
Thousands of protesters gather in Tahrir Square in Cairo on July 3. 
An opponent of Morsy chants slogans during a protest outside the presidential palace in Cairo on July 3. 
Egyptian special forces police stand guard beside an armored vehicle, protecting a bridge connecting Cairo and Giza, Egypt, where Muslim Brotherhood supporters have gathered, on July 3. 
Hundreds of protesters gather in Tahrir Square in Cairo as the deadline given to Morsy by the military approaches on July 3. 
Opponents of Morsy shout slogans as they carry a symbolic coffin during a protest in Tahrir Square on July 3. 
A protester shouts during a demonstration in Tahrir Square on July 3. 
Protesters react after Morsy’s speech in a street leading to the presidential palace in Cairo early on July 3. Morsy’s angry opponents met head-on overnight with his supporters at Cairo University, leaving 23 people dead. 
People watch Morsy on television in Cairo on Tuesday, July 2. 
Fireworks go off as protesters gather in the streets outside the presidential palace in Cairo on July 2. 
Supporters of President Morsy hold sticks and wear protective gear during training outside a mosque in Cairo on July 2. 
Morsy supporters march in formation in Cairo on July 2. 
Opponents of Morsy camp out as they protest outside the presidential palace in Cairo on July 2. 
Egyptians shout slogans against Morsy in Cairo on Monday, July 1. 
A protester lights a flare as hundreds of thousands of demonstrators gather in Cairo’s landmark Tahrir Square on July 1 during a protest calling for the ouster of Morsy. 
Protesters pray during a demonstration against Morsy in Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Monday, July 1. Pro- and anti-government demonstrations have spread around the country surrounding the one-year mark of Morsy coming into office on Sunday, June 30. 
Egyptian protesters shout slogans and wave national flags during a demonstration against President Mohamed Morsy in Tahrir Square in Cairo on July 1. 
Egyptian protesters ransack the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters in the Muqatam district in Cairo on July 1. Protesters stormed and ransacked the headquarters of Morsy’s Muslim Brotherhood group early Monday. 
Egyptian protesters ransack the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters in Cairo on July 1. 
Thousands of opponents of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy pray during a protest calling for his ouster at Cairo’s landmark Tahrir Square on June 30. On the first anniversary of his inauguration, Morsy’s Islamist supporters vow to defend his legitimacy to the end.
Protesters stormed the main headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo, the party that Morsy led before his election, and set it on fire on June 30. 
Morsy’s opponents say his policies are to blame for a breakdown in law and order, for an economy that’s gone south, and for a gas shortage that has Egyptians waiting at the pumps for hours. Here, protestors fill the streets of Cairo on June 30. 
Protesters sit on top of a power pole as they chant slogans against Morsy outside the presidential palace in Cairo on June 30. “Egypt is on the brink of a volcano,” government-run newspaper Al-Akhbar said. 
Periodically, Morsy opponents and supporters have clashed and the results have been deadly — even before the Sunday clashes. 
Protesters set off fireworks outside the presidential palace. 
Thousands of Muslim Brotherhood supporters conduct Friday prayers in front of a Cairo mosque before the start of a sit-in for Morsy on June 28. 
Protesters wave national flags and a red card in Arabic reading “leave” in Tahrir Square during the demonstration against Morsy. 
Protesters take a rest near Tahrir Square. Those supporting the president say he is the people’s choice and refer to the 13 million votes he earned in elections held exactly a year ago Sunday. They say he inherited a broken system and should be given time to fix it. 
A protester watches an Apache helicopter as it flies over Tahrir Square on June 30. Morsy’s opponents stood their ground in the square, where protests two years ago helped topple Hosni Mubarak’s 29-year rule. 
The demonstrators say they have collected 17 million signatures — roughly 4 million more than what won Morsy the presidency — and all of them call for Morsy to go. 
An Egyptian protester chants slogans during the rally. 
Hundreds of thousands of Morsy opponents chant outside the presidential palace. 
Morsy opponents protest outside the presidential palace in Cairo on June 30. 
Thousands of Egyptian protesters gather in Tahrir Square. Anti-Morsy protesters have a wide range of views on why he should go and how to eject him from office. 
Morsy opponents wave a giant national flag outside the presidential palace on Saturday, June 29. 
Supporters of the president shout slogans at the opposition near a mosque in Cairo on June 29. “We’re not leaving, and the president is staying,” one supporter told CNN. “We believe in democracy. If people don’t like him, they can vote him out in three years.” 
Mourners shout slogans during journalist Salah Hassan’s funeral on June 29 in Port Said. 
Morsy supporters, armed with sticks and shields, stand guard at their protest site in Cairo on June 29. 
Egyptians help a wounded man following clashes between Morsy’s supporters and opponents in Alexandria on June 28. 
Morsy supporters demonstrate in Cairo on June 28. Protests have also erupted in Suez, Sharqia, El Monofia and Gharbiya, the state-run Ahram news agency said. And in the port city of Alexandria, so many people turned out that traffic virtually came to a standstill. 
A Morsy opponent waves Egyptian flags during a protest outside the Egyptian Defense Ministry in Cairo on June 28. 
A protester waves a national flag over Cairo’s Tahrir Square. Demonstrator Rifaat Ali traveled from Upper Egypt to the capital with a message to Morsy’s opponents: “Our patience has run out. Either you back off, or the only thing left to do is attack with one fist.” 
A chained protester wearing a picture of Morsy participates in an anti-government protest in Tahrir Square on Wednesday, June 26. HIDE CAPTION
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STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Ed Husain: Hopes were high when Egyptians ousted Mubarak. Is the dream over?
- Husain: Morsy broke the faith, but he deserves more time if he corrects mistakes
- He says Morsy must be humble and the military must respect civilian leadership
- Husain: Egypt’s mess is of its own making; the solutions must be, too
Editor’s note: Ed Husain is a senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. The author of “The Islamist” can be followed on Twitter via @Ed_Husain.
(CNN) — Egyptians were the pride of the modern world when they overthrew their dictator in January, 2011. They proved to us that the cry for freedom and liberty was universal. That Arabs and Muslims were no different from others. Hopes were raised, but now the democratic dream is coming apart before our eyes as millions demonstrate against the Morsy government in Egypt. Is it too late to save Egypt’s democracy?
Popular protests are the sign of a robust democracy. But the change in an elected government should be at the ballot box, not through mob violence.
Torching Muslim Brotherhood offices, attacking their leaders’ homes and killing their activists is no way to oppose an elected president. Granted, the secular opposition forces in Egypt have genuine grievances. Morsy started his reign a year ago promising to appoint a female vice president and a Coptic Christian deputy. He failed to deliver on both counts, sending negative signals to Egypt’s Christian communities and neglecting gender parity.
Ed Husain
Morsy’s team has been keen to show photos of him leading prayers at the palace more often than signing new trade and investment agreements. It is this failure to improve the lives of ordinary people — in fact, making their lives worse since the revolution — that has allowed the opposition to mobilize millions on the streets.
I have visited Egypt regularly since the revolution, and heard from people from across society about why they were still willing to give Morsy a chance. They said they understood it took time to reverse the decay of Mubarak’s four decades. But they were not prepared for long queues outside gas stations, frequent electricity cuts, deaths in train accidents, and the steep decline in tourism, Egypt’s economic lifeline.
Incompetence at the top was proven when the government declared a tax increase to match IMF requirements and then reversed the decision on Facebook in the wee hours of the night.
Egyptians are a proud people — they may protest through Facebook, but do not expect to be governed by declarations on it. They are accustomed to being governed by well-spoken, strong presidential figures in Gamal Abdel Nasser, Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak. Morsy has not been in command of his script when speaking in public, nor in control of his government’s agenda, assuming he has one.
Morsy’s many mistakes outdo his limited achievements. Yes, he instituted the country’s new constitution, but it was done through an executive power grab with no judicial or parliamentary oversight. With the secular and liberal opposition forces isolated, Morsy and his broadly Islamist and Salafist supporters rammed through a hodgepodge constitution.
The claims and counter-claims in Egyptian politics, the blame and counter-blame, are incessant. But what’s next? Bringing millions into the streets is impressive, but it is not a strategy for improving lives, or for creating the political stability that is required for economic prosperity. The tourists will not return, nor will international investment, so long as Egypt is drawing negative global headlines.
Morsy came to power through the ballot box, and should only be removed by it — not through popular protests or a military coup. If Morsy were to resign, it is not clear who would succeed him. And in a year’s time, with protesters’ appetites whetted for new political heads to roll, we will be back in the same position of demands for new rulers.
With all his faults, and despite government resignations all around him, Morsy deserves more time in office. U.S. President Barack Obama was right not to call for his resignation. But more time in office cannot be full of mistakes like those of the last year.
First, Morsy’s team needs to stop treating the opposition with arrogance and contempt. In an ideal world, the secular opposition leaders would be more constructive and accommodating. But you have to fight a battle with the soldiers you have, not the ones you want. Morsy needs to have the likes of opposition figures such as Mohamed ElBaradei, Abdel Moneim Aboul Fatouh, Hamdeen Sabbahi, and others around a table in a nationally televised dialogue.
The opposition needs to stand away from brinkmanship. The zero-sum game must end. It harms Egypt, and ordinary Egyptians.
Second, Morsi needs to speak out in public, and stick to his script in humility (no off-the-cuff remarks in colloquial Arabic), asking the Egyptian protesters for more time in government. Contrition from the president and a clearer vision can help sooth ordinary protesters. It needs to be a straightforward message that accepts past mistakes and lays out realistic promises to solve fuel shortages, power cuts, delays in instituting a parliament, and conflict with Egypt’s judiciary, however difficult.
Third, Egypt’s armed forces must stop flirting with protesters. In a democracy, the military answers to an elected civilian leadership. That culture is not yet instituted among the Egyptian generals. At the same time that Morsy is making concessions and promising deliverables on television, the generals should be stopping their ultimatums to their president.
Fourth, failing all of the above, Morsy needs to call early presidential elections and renew his legitimacy at a referendum. If the secular opposition wants a new president, let’s see who they can offer to the Egyptian people. The Muslim Brotherhood may not support Morsy as their candidate, again. It remains to be seen.
Amid the instability in Egypt, blaming the United States has been easy but ultimately meaningless. Conspiracy theories of U.S. control may be cathartic to some, but they produce little to improve the country. Egypt’s military, judiciary, media, and secular opposition leaders have blocked Morsy repeatedly. These were not U.S. actions. The mess in Egypt is of Egyptian making, but the solutions also lie within Egypt. Will Morsy rise to the challenge and unite a divided nation?
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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Ed Husain.
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