Egypt's Islamist President-elect to be sworn in June 30

PanARMENIAN.Net - Egypt's President-elect Mohamed Mursi takes his oath on Saturday, June 30 a day after the Islamist leader pre-empted the formal ceremony by swearing himself in before ecstatic crowds in Tahrir Square and warning off generals trying to curb his powers, Reuters reported.

They have already clipped the prerogatives of the bearded leader now in the palace once occupied by Hosni Mubarak, who is serving a life sentence 16 months after Egyptians toppled him.

"I swear by God that I will sincerely protect the republican system and that I respect the constitution and the rule of law," Mursi said on Friday to wild cheers from the crowd, many of whom were followers of his once-banned Muslim Brotherhood.

Addressing the "Muslims and Christians of Egypt", he promised a "civil, nationalist, constitutional state", making no mention of the Brotherhood's dream of creating an Islamic order.

Mursi is to be sworn in officially at 11 a.m. (05.00 a.m. EDT) by the constitutional court, rather than by parliament as is usual.

The court dissolved the Islamist-dominated lower house this month in one of several measures intended to entrench military influence over Egypt long after Mursi assumes the presidency.

"There is no power above people power," Mursi said in Tahrir Square, crucible of the revolt that ended Mubarak's 30 years in power. "Today you are the source of this power."

His defiant speech was a clear challenge to the army, which also says it embodies the will of the people and which sees itself as the guarantor of national interests and the state.

An army council headed by Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi took over from Mubarak when he quit on February 11, 2011 and has long pledged to make way for an elected president by July 1.

Tantawi, Mubarak's defense minister for 20 years, would hand over to Mursi in a televised ceremony on Saturday after the president was sworn in, army sources said.

Under the military council's rule, Egypt has experienced a bumpy and sometimes violent transition in which parliamentary and presidential elections have been held, without setting the country on a clear path to democracy or constitutional rule.