When Egypt’s army took the side of millions of citizens occupying the country’s streets and squares and ousted Mohamed Morsi on Wednesday, it swept aside a legitimately elected president who had serially failed litmus tests of democratic legitimacy. There is no room left for Egypt to keep failing these tests – and no need for a country that can mobilise at this level of vitality to retain the men in uniform as pharaoh makers.
The tumultuous end to one year of rule by the Muslim Brotherhood was, quite simply, a coup d’état. But it was preceded by millions of Egyptians taking to the streets, calling for Mr Morsi’s departure in even greater numbers than brought down the army-backed dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak in 2011. It is hard to think of a greater humiliation for the Brothers, revealed as would-be emperors with the most threadbare of clothes.
Egypt’s new script is being written, for the moment, by General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the army chief of staff. He has suspended the constitution, and replaced Mr Morsi with Adli Mansour, head of the constitutional court. Mr Mansour’s mandate is to set up a caretaker government of technocrats, create pluralist panels aimed at national unity and an inclusive constitution, after which there will be new parliamentary and presidential elections.