Former President George W. Bush said Tuesday he believes “democracy will ultimately take hold in Egypt,” where he said protesters who have taken over Cairo’s Tahrir Square are holding their government accountable for a failure to uphold campaign promises.
With a Wednesday deadline for Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi and the opposition to resolve the country’s political crisis looming large, Bush expressed confidence to ABC News that a democracy will win out.
“I believe democracy will ultimately take hold,” Bush said. “And I hope that people who live in comfortable nations are helping some of these young Egyptians understand how to build political parties and understand how to claim their rightful place in the political process.”
Bush said the protesters are exercising a right they’ve long been denied.
“They had been snuffed out of the political process, and all of a sudden they’ve been now given a chance,” Bush said. ” And I find it instructive that the current leaders campaigned on a platform, and now the Egyptian people are trying to hold them to account.”
