CAIRO // The leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood will today decide whether to field a candidate for the presidential elections, a move that could divide the country's most powerful political group and change the face of the poll, just two months before Egyptians cast their vote.
The Muslim Brotherhood said last year, after it won the parliamentary elections, that it would not nominate a candidate. At the time, the announcement was seen as an attempt to assuage liberals that it was not seeking Islamist control of the country. But, in recent weeks, there appears to be a push from within the group's ranks to change its position.
The lack of a consensus candidate among Islamists has divided the group's membership over whether to stick to its plan of wielding power through the parliament alone, or seeking broader control of the government by controlling both the legislative and executive branches.
The Muslim Brotherhood could support a non-Islamist candidate, such as Egypt's former foreign minister Amr Moussa, who is seen as a front-runner, over Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, who was ousted from the Muslim Brotherhood for defying the ban and launching a presidential campaign. Mr Fotouh has a strong following among the group's youth. But by doing so, the group risks a "split" that could undermine its power, said Mazen Hassan, a professor at Cairo University who studies Egypt's political transition.
"The Brotherhood are really in a bad situation," he said. "They risk a split in the group and the only option may be to nominate one from their own ranks who has the popularity to beat Aboul Fotouh in the elections. This may be the only way to guarantee the unity of the party."
A leading internal candidate for the group is Khairat El Shater, the Muslim Brotherhood's chief financier, who has played an increasingly public role for the group in the last three months, Mr Hassan said.
The decision over whether to support an internal candidate is also seen as one of the Muslim Brotherhood's final bargaining chips with the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (Scaf), the group of generals that has been in control of the country since Hosni Mubarak resigned as president last year amid a popular uprising. Relations have soured between because of Scaf's refusal to withdraw its interim cabinet.
If a non-Islamist president is elected, Scaf would have a better chance at holding onto its powers and economic interests, analysts say, as the president is also the head of the armed forces. If the Muslim Brotherhood controlled the presidency, Scaf would be weakened.
The Muslim Brotherhood had been critical of Scaf and its cabinet for failures that included the lack of security at the Port Said football riot in February that led to 74 deaths, "squandering" state funds, and failing to fix the country's economic problems.
On Sunday, the group issued an unusually confrontational statement commenting on the cabinet's "failures": "Is it a desire to abort the revolution and destroy the people's belief in their ability to achieve their goals? Or is there an intention to defraud or influence the forthcoming presidential election?"
The military struck back with its own statement, expressing its "utmost resentment" at the "slanders… against the integrity of the armed forces and their supreme council, attacking the performance and patriotism of the government".
The Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party emerged as the most widely supported political group in the parliamentary elections that started last November and finished in February, winning nearly half of the seats in what observers described as the freest elections in decades.
The group's support for a presidential candidate - internal or external - is likely to be one of the most important decisions in the run-up to the elections. With the support of the group, a candidate would receive a major election boost that could swing the election results.
The Muslim Brotherhood has a dizzying year, transforming from an underground movement formed in 1928 that was banned by the state into the most powerful political group in post-Mubarak Egypt.
The past year has forced the group to become more moderate as it sought broad acceptance among the population, but also to learn the ins and outs of political calculus, said Tawfik Hamid, a former Islamic extremist who is the chairman of the study of Islamic radicalism at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies in the US.
"If they immediately implemented Shari'ah in the traditional ways, they would destroy the economy, especially tourism," Dr Hamid said. "They are taking power when the country is on the edge of economic collapse. They have had to develop a new tactical and pragmatic way of thinking that appears more moderate for now."
bhope@thenational.ae
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A fraudulent investment operation where the scammer provides fake reports and generates returns for old investors through money paid by new investors, rather than through ligitimate business activities.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
The biog
Place of birth: Kalba
Family: Mother of eight children and has 10 grandchildren
Favourite traditional dish: Al Harees, a slow cooked porridge-like dish made from boiled cracked or coarsely ground wheat mixed with meat or chicken
Favourite book: My early life by Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, the Ruler of Sharjah
Favourite quote: By Sheikh Zayed, the UAE's Founding Father, “Those who have no past will have no present or future.”
School counsellors on mental well-being
Schools counsellors in Abu Dhabi have put a number of provisions in place to help support pupils returning to the classroom next week.
Many children will resume in-person lessons for the first time in 10 months and parents previously raised concerns about the long-term effects of distance learning.
Schools leaders and counsellors said extra support will be offered to anyone that needs it. Additionally, heads of years will be on hand to offer advice or coping mechanisms to ease any concerns.
“Anxiety this time round has really spiralled, more so than from the first lockdown at the beginning of the pandemic,” said Priya Mitchell, counsellor at The British School Al Khubairat in Abu Dhabi.
“Some have got used to being at home don’t want to go back, while others are desperate to get back.
“We have seen an increase in depressive symptoms, especially with older pupils, and self-harm is starting younger.
“It is worrying and has taught us how important it is that we prioritise mental well-being.”
Ms Mitchell said she was liaising more with heads of year so they can support and offer advice to pupils if the demand is there.
The school will also carry out mental well-being checks so they can pick up on any behavioural patterns and put interventions in place to help pupils.
At Raha International School, the well-being team has provided parents with assessment surveys to see how they can support students at home to transition back to school.
“They have created a Well-being Resource Bank that parents have access to on information on various domains of mental health for students and families,” a team member said.
“Our pastoral team have been working with students to help ease the transition and reduce anxiety that [pupils] may experience after some have been nearly a year off campus.
"Special secondary tutorial classes have also focused on preparing students for their return; going over new guidelines, expectations and daily schedules.”
SHAITTAN
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How to play the stock market recovery in 2021?
If you are looking to build your long-term wealth in 2021 and beyond, the stock market is still the best place to do it as equities powered on despite the pandemic.
Investing in individual stocks is not for everyone and most private investors should stick to mutual funds and ETFs, but there are some thrilling opportunities for those who understand the risks.
Peter Garnry, head of equity strategy at Saxo Bank, says the 20 best-performing US and European stocks have delivered an average return year-to-date of 148 per cent, measured in local currency terms.
Online marketplace Etsy was the best performer with a return of 330.6 per cent, followed by communications software company Sinch (315.4 per cent), online supermarket HelloFresh (232.8 per cent) and fuel cells specialist NEL (191.7 per cent).
Mr Garnry says digital companies benefited from the lockdown, while green energy firms flew as efforts to combat climate change were ramped up, helped in part by the European Union’s green deal.
Electric car company Tesla would be on the list if it had been part of the S&P 500 Index, but it only joined on December 21. “Tesla has become one of the most valuable companies in the world this year as demand for electric vehicles has grown dramatically,” Mr Garnry says.
By contrast, the 20 worst-performing European stocks fell 54 per cent on average, with European banks hit by the economic fallout from the pandemic, while cruise liners and airline stocks suffered due to travel restrictions.
As demand for energy fell, the oil and gas industry had a tough year, too.
Mr Garnry says the biggest story this year was the “absolute crunch” in so-called value stocks, companies that trade at low valuations compared to their earnings and growth potential.
He says they are “heavily tilted towards financials, miners, energy, utilities and industrials, which have all been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic”. “The last year saw these cheap stocks become cheaper and expensive stocks have become more expensive.”
This has triggered excited talk about the “great value rotation” but Mr Garnry remains sceptical. “We need to see a breakout of interest rates combined with higher inflation before we join the crowd.”
Always remember that past performance is not a guarantee of future returns. Last year’s winners often turn out to be this year’s losers, and vice-versa.
What to watch out for:
Algae, waste coffee grounds and orange peels will be used in the pavilion's walls and gangways
The hulls of three ships will be used for the roof
The hulls will painted to make the largest Italian tricolour in the country’s history
Several pillars more than 20 metres high will support the structure
Roughly 15 tonnes of steel will be used
'Laal Kaptaan'
Director: Navdeep Singh
Stars: Saif Ali Khan, Manav Vij, Deepak Dobriyal, Zoya Hussain
Rating: 2/5
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950