The previous student unions elections occurred when the Muslim Brotherhood was in power. The results of these elections came as a surprise to many Egypt observers and analysts. The ruling Brotherhood was dealt a massive blow in almost all of Egypt’s top universities and that was unprecedented given the fact that the MB was the only coherent and well financed political organization operating on the campuses. During the 30 years reign of Hosni Mubarak, the security apparatus had to personally intervene in order to prevent the MB from winning.
These student unions elections were an indication to the the changing mood that was occurring within parts of the Egyptian society vis-a -vis the MB. Disheartened by the MB rule, more and more Egyptians, who once voted for the MB, started to turn against them. The student unions elections were just one sign of that sentiment.
This anti-MB sentiment might be changing soon though, thanks to the brutality committed by the Egyptian police under the current military backed government. Last week, the police shot and killed a Cairo University student during clashes with pro-Morsi demonstrators. Mohamed Reda, who was not part of the demonstrations nor was he a member of any political party, was killed inside the university campus in an incident that I don’t recall has happened before in Egypt’s history. The death of Reda infuriated thousands of students who, in addition to Cairo University’s President, blamed the police for his killing. These students, who most probably voted against the MB in the previous student unions elections, joined pro-Morsi students in strikes that are starting to hit faculties in a number of prominent universities across Egypt.
What is happening in the universities is just one example of how police brutality is undermining the current government and turning the tide in favor of the MB. It is too early to claim that the students who are protesting against the police will automatically start supporting the pro-Morsi cause, but since there is no viable alternative to the military and the MB, I expect the latter to gain a lot of the popularity it lost when it was in power as a result of the crimes being currently committed by the security apparatus. In other words, the repressive measures that the current government is utilizing against the MB will only strengthen the political Islamist organization. Previous regimes tried to suppress the MB by force but the MB’s true colors were only seen when it was brought to the light, pushing the MB back underground by using excessive measures will only help it regain what it lost during its dreadful one and a half years in power.

The Big Pharaoh is an Egyptian blogger since 2004. He is active on his twitter account @thebigpharaoh and on his blog www.bigpharaoh.org