Egypt's Islamists are claiming a decisive victory this week in the first elections since the fall of Hosni Mubarak. The well-organized Muslim Brotherhood captured roughly 40 percent of the vote, as expected, and ultraconservative Islamists finished a surprisingly strong second. Emboldened religious parties are already stepping up pressure on the military to hasten the transition to civilian rule, though there are two more election rounds to come. (This week, ballots were only cast in one-third of Egypt's provinces.) Will Islamists rule the new Egypt?
Yes. And that's a disaster: "It would be hard to overstate what a catastrophe the Egyptian elections are shaping into," says Andrew C. McCarthy at National Review. The Muslim Brotherhood and the even more radical Salafist Muslims of the Nour party can justifiably cement their power with a newly drafted constitution and the election of a new president. The Arab Spring, supposedly a victory for secular democrats, is increasingly looking like the start of a "grand jihad."
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