Khairat Al-Shater is the presidential candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt
Article added on April 1, 2012 at 19:19 Portuguese time
  
In a reversal of their original position not to present a candidate in the 2012 Egyptian presidential election, the Muslim Brotherhood has nominated its deputy chairman Khairat Al-Shater as its standard bearer for the top job in Egypt.

Speculation is growing in Egypt and around the world of the possibility of the Muslim Brotherhood dominating Egypt's parliament, government, constitutional drafting committee as well as the office of the president. So far, the strongest force in play remains the Egyptian military, which gets sponsored with billions of dollars by the United States government or rather its taxpayers.

Khairat Al-Shater (*1950) is a multimillionaire businessman who has made his money in electronics, retail and manufacturing. The deputy chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood has spent several years in jail under Hosni Mubarak.

The Muslim Brotherhood's shura council, a sort of party parliament, was almost evenly split in its 56:52 nomination vote for Khairat Al-Shater. Even Egypt's most powerful party is not a monolithic organization.

Khairat Al-Shater nomination is surely meant as a sign of reassurance to the economic community in Egypt and abroad that the Muslim Brotherhood will not interfere in the private market since Khairat Al-Shater is considered an advocate of free-market capitalism. A Salon article by Avi Asher-Schapiro published in January 2012 went as far as to suggest that Khairat Al-Shater is “a strong advocate of privatization”, that the Muslim Brotherhood, which is often portrayed as a “shadowy organization with terrorist ties”, “has more in common with America's Republican Party than with al-Qaida.”

Indeed, the Mubarak regime jailed many Muslim Brotherhood businessmen, not only for ideological reasons, but also or sometimes even exclusively because their representatives were rivals of Mubarak cronies.

Khairat Al-Shater spoke out in favor of desperately needed foreign direct investment in Egypt. Could the Muslim Brotherhood become the force in favor of the opening of Egypt and of privatization in the Nile country? Khairat Al-Shater has had many talks with U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, to ensure them that hell will not break loose if he should take office.

Hosni Mubarak's Egypt was a country for the happy few with good ties to the regime. This view seems very optimistic but not totally unfounded. Time will tell. As long as the ultraconservative, fundamentalist Salafi party does not take over Egypt, a lot of hope for the future of the Nile country remains.

The 2012 presidential election in Egypt is scheduled for May 23 and 24, with a runoff on June 16 and 17, if necessary. Other candidates include Arab League Chef Amr Mussa, the Salafist television host Hazem Salah Abu Ismail and former Muslim Brotherhood member Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouoh, to mention just a few.

Order books about the Muslim Brotherhood from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.de.