Renad Ghanem

Saudi Gazette

 

JEDDAH — Egyptian expatriates in Jeddah who support former prime minister Ahmed Shafiq have mixed feelings about Egypt’s new President Mohamed Mursi. Some believe that Egypt is heading toward a potentially dark future, while others fear that he might not address vital issues concerning the average citizen.



Shafiq supporters believe that he was the best for their country, given his political record, achievements and experience. A group of Egyptian youth launched a website called ‘Mursi Meter’ to monitor the performance of the president. It lists his promises and monitors his performance by documenting what has been achieved in relation to his promises.

 

Ahmed Madkour, who supports Ahmed Shafiq, was saddened by the election’s outcome but accepts the democratic process. He said, “Mursi is the president now and we have to support him. He promised to improve the country within his first 100 days as the president and we are waiting to see it.”



Sherif Hosni, a Shafiq supporter, believes that the people of Egypt are now smarter and more aware of politics. He believes that they can evaluate the new president critically.   

 

“Mursi has to know that no excuses will be accepted by Egyptians. He is now responsible for the future of over 85 million citizens.”



However, Hanan Muntaser does not share Hosni’s confidence in the Egyptian people’s assessment of Mursi. She believes that the media will be biased, only focusing on the positive as they did with Mubarak during his reign. 

“He said that he resigned from the Muslim brotherhood party Freedom and Justice but many party members lead us to think otherwise,” she said. “We need proof to believe that he no longer belongs to that party.”



Ahmed Rostom, who works in the private sector and had previously worked in tourism, believes that tourism is not one of Mursi’s priorities. He supported Shafiq who had been concerned with improving tourism.



Rostom said, “I don’t expect much from Mursi, I’m not sure if he will even achieve 30 percent of what he promised. All we can do now is wait and see what he will do.”