New Egyptian President Officially Takes Office - East Idaho News
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New Egyptian President Officially Takes Office

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GETTY W 062512 EgyptMorsi?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1341222115419AFP/GettyImages(CAIRO) — Mohammed Morsi was sworn in Saturday as Egypt’s first democratically-elected president, and he announced a pledge to restore the country’s recently-dissolved parliament.

The parliament was dissolved by the Egyptian military council that took control of the government following the ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak in the wake of the Arab Spring uprising.

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces dissolved the parliament and assumed control of all legislative powers under a controversial “interim constitutional declaration.”

Morsi, the leader of the once-banned Muslim Brotherhood, said in a speech at Cairo University that the army must respect the people’s will.

Egyptian Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the leader of the military council, saluted Morsi at an official transfer of power ceremony and announced, “We have fulfilled our promise which we made before God and the people.”

Morsi has stated he is a new kind of president who answers to the Egyptian people, but many Mideast observers say he also rules with the consent of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.

One of the first tasks for Morsi will be choosing a presidential cabinet that is agreeable to the members of Egypt’s military and judiciary.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

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