We Do Not Respect Election Results

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

Which matters more in the public arena — be it national, patriotic, or Islamic — achieving my own desires, or holding fast to principle? And which of the two leads to conflict at the public level: adherence to principle, or the defense of desires?

There is no doubt in my mind that Islamic organizations, in their current intellectual garb, can practice governance successfully, or that they can manage public affairs successfully. I have written about this before, more than once, and said that the reason for this is that the Islamic movements understand religion as a body of jurisprudence that monitors individual conduct from the standpoint of the permitted and the forbidden, rather than understanding it as a body of thought that can be translated into policies concerned with the broad organization of societies and driving them forward. They concern themselves with secondary matters that may carry meaning at the individual level, but that do not form a foundation for the advancement of a nation, and their theorizing has far more to do with clerical practice than with practical, constructive action.

But elections remain the deciding factor in who governs and manages people’s affairs, if we choose the democratic system and the mechanism of elections for selecting executive and legislative officials. Across the Arab homeland, millions of people call for the implementation of democracy and for elections as the wellspring of governmental legitimacy, looking, in doing so, to the success of the Western experience as evidence that Arabs too might succeed in escaping injustice, despotism, and corruption. And there are hundreds, even thousands, of Arab non-governmental organizations that call every day for the necessity of implementing democracy, considering this issue the very core of their mission for the liberation of the Arab human being.

And yet, we Arabs did not respect the election results in Algeria, and the result was the death of tens of thousands of citizens, and great damage inflicted on public and private facilities.

And in the West Bank and Gaza, we did not respect the election results, and the result was the death of hundreds, division, and the Palestinian security services pursuing Palestinians over their security affiliations and even over their daily bread.

And now it is Egypt’s turn, and we pray that no infighting or bloodshed will occur.

And there are voices in Tunisia that want to override the election results as well.

I regarded Dr. Mohamed Morsi as an unsuccessful and uncourageous president, and I never saw in him a clear vision or philosophy for how to administer and govern. He committed grave errors regarding relations with Israel and the United States, in requesting loans from international funds, in severing relations with Syria, and in refusing to establish relations with Iran. He also erred in failing to pursue the corrupt within Egypt, in failing to do what was necessary to safeguard the flow of the Nile’s waters, and in favoring his own group in government appointments. Morsi took no steps to rally the Egyptian people around him, and instead focused on steps that strengthened the standing of the Muslim Brotherhood.

But none of this justifies rejecting the results of the elections, given the dangers this carries, which could expose Egypt, its people, and its unity to grave risk. The matter should not have been viewed through the narrow lens of the moment, shaped by the vast popular demonstrations, but through the lens of the future repercussions that could follow from removing Morsi and detaining him. The Arab tribal mindset has once again overpowered the attempt to copy the Western democratic system.

Morsi erred in failing to offer a solution that would deliver Egypt from the crisis, and his opponents erred in continuing to reject dialogue altogether.

If we Arabs are searching for success, then we must place principle ahead of private interests and desires; otherwise, the period of instability in the Arab arena will only lengthen, and we will all pay a heavy price as a result. It is important for us to understand that elections are a sword hanging over the ruler’s neck, and the mechanism that removes him from power if he does no good during his rule.

This, while I am well aware of the degree of deviation Western democracy itself suffers from in safeguarding and respecting human freedom, and yet abiding by its standards remains necessary if we choose to apply it at all.

Source: Translated from the original Arabic, “نحن لا نحترم نتائج الانتخابات” by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem.