Revamped version of an earlier idea.
Presidents of the United Arab Republic
1959 - 1983: Mohamed Naguib / Abdul Salam Arif (Arab Socialist Union) [1]
1961 def: Unopposed
1966 def: Unopposed
1971 def: Unopposed
1976 def: Unopposed
1981 def: Unopposed
1983 - 1990: Abdul Salam Arif / Ali Abdullah Saleh (Arab Socialist Union) [2]
1986 def: Unopposed
1990: Ali Abdullah Saleh / vacant (Arab Socialist Union) [3]
1990 Constitutional Referendum - 86% YES, 14% NO
1990 - 1991: Ali Abdullah Saleh / Abdelaziz Bouteflika (Nonpartisan)
1991 - 1996: Abderrahmane Youssofi / Talal al-Saud (Reformist Democratic Party) [4]
1991 def: Ma'mun al-Hudaybi / Ayad al-Sammari (Muslim Brotherhood), Ali Abdullah Saleh / Abdelaziz Bouteflika (Nonpartisan)
1996 - 2001: Muhammad Surur / Abdullah ibn Husayn al-Ahmar (Muslim Brotherhood) [5]
1996 def: Abderrahmane Yousoffi / Talal al-Saud (Reformist Democratic Party), Safwan al-Qudsi / Mohammad al-Shaar (National Progressive Party)
2001 - 2007: Ayman Nour / Mustafa Barghouti (Reformist Democratic Party) [6]
2001 def: Muhammad Surur / Abdullah ibn Husayn al-Ahmar (Muslim Brotherhood), Assem Qanso / Mohammad Younis al-Ahmed (National Progressive Party), Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr / Nouri al-Maliki (Islamic Dawa Party), Masoud Barzani / Rowsch Shaways (Kurdish Democratic Party)
2006 def: Saad el-Katatni / Mohammad Farouk Tayfour (Muslim Brotherhood), Isam al-Qadi / Sayed Abdal Aal (National Progressive Party), Hassan al Saffar / Amina al-Sadr (Islamic Dawa Party), Masoud Barzani / Rowsch Shaways (Kurdish Democratic Party)
2007 - 2011: Ayman Nour / Ahmad Shafik (Reformist Democratic Party)
2011 - 0000: Mohammad Farouk Tayfour / Ali Bapir (Muslim Brotherhood) [7]
2011 def: Hisham Bastawisy / Khaled Mohieddin (National Progressive Party), Ahmad Shafik / Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi (Reformist Democratic Party), Khaled Ali / Mehdi Joumaa (Freedom Party), Nimr al-Nimr / Suhbi al-Tufayli (Islamic Dawa Party), Masoud Barzani / Nechirvan Barzani (Kurdish Democratic Party)
2016 def: Mustafa Barghouti / Khaled Ali (Reformist Democratic Party), Fayiz Ismail / Saleh al-Mutlaq (National Progressive Party), Nimr al-Nimr / Suhbi al-Tufayli (Islamic Dawa Party), Ahmed Chalabi / various (Arabian National Congress), Nechirvan Barzani / Vala Fareed (Kurdish Democratic Party)
Prime Ministers of the United Arab Republic
1959 - 1965: Ali Sabri (Arab Socialist Union)
1960 def: Unopposed
1965 def: Unopposed
1965 - 1973: Abd al-Rahman al-Bazzaz (Arab Socialist Union)
1970 def: Unopposed
1973 - 1983: Ali Abdullah Saleh (Arab Socialist Union)
1975 def: Unopposed
1980 def: Unopposed
1983 - 1991: Abdul Aziz Abdul Ghani (Arab Socialist Union)
1985 def: Unopposed
1990 def: Unopposed
1991 - 1995: Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour (Reformist Democratic Party)
1991 def: Abbassi Madani (Muslim Brotherhood), Abdul Aziz Abdul Ghani (Arab Socialist Union)
1995 - 1999: Abbassi Madani (Muslim Brotherhood)
1995 def: Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour (Reformist Democratic Party), Akram al-Hawrani (National Progressive Party), Rowsch Shaways (Kurdish Democratic Party)
1999 - 2007: Ahmad Chalabi (Reformist Democratic Party)
1999 def: Abbasi Madani (Muslim Brotherhood), Abdul Halim Khaddam (National Progressive Party) Mahmoud Shahroud (Islamic Dawa Party), Rowsch Shaways (Kurdish Democratic Party)
2003 def: Ali Belhadj (Muslim Brotherhood), Abdul Halim Khaddam (National Progressive Party) Mahmoud Shahroudi (Islamic Dawa Party), Rowsch Shaways (Kurdish Democratic Party)
2007 - 2011: Mohammad al-Shaar (National Progressive Party)
2007 def: Mohand Laesner (Freedom Party), Ali Belhadj (Muslim Brotherhood), Ahmad Chalabi (Reformist Democratic Party), Ali Salman (Islamic Dawa Party), Nechirvan Barzani (Kurdish Democratic Party)
2011 - 2019: Saad el-Katani (Muslim Brotherhood)
2011 def: Bahaa el-Din Abu Shoka (Reformist Democratic Party), Mohammad al-Shaar (National Progressive Party), Mohand Laesner (Freedom Party) Ali Salman (Islamic Dawa Party), Nechirvan Barzani (Kurdish Democratic Party)
2015 def: Bahaa el-Din Abu Shoka (Reformist Democratic Party), Ghassan Othman (National Progressive Party), Ali Salman (Islamic Dawa Party), Nechirvan Barzani (Kurdish Democratic Party)
2019 - 2020: Abdurrahman El-Keib (Reformist Democratic Party)
2019 def: Saad el-Katani (Muslim Brotherhood), Ghassan Othman (National Progressive Party), Ali Salman (Islamic Dawa Party), Nechirvan Barzani (Kurdish Democratic Party)
2020 - 0000: Abdurrahman Mustafa (Reformist Democratic Party)
[1] - Mohamed Naguib became President of Egypt in 1952, following a military coup d'etat which overthrew the Egyptian Monarchy. Naguib would consolidate power for himself in Egypt, and presented himself as the leader of the Arab World, an image bolstered following the nationalization of the Suez Canal, and how he stood down the UK, France, and Israel. The doctrine of Arab Nationalism would begin to spread across the Arab World, such as in Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon. In Saudi Arabia, in 1957, a coup d'etat by the Free Princes Movement, led by Talal al-Saud, would reform Saudi Arabia into the Republic of the Arabian Peninsula, and would align itself with the Arab Nationalist bloc. The Saudi coup would be the basis for the formation of the United Arab Republic in 1959, with Naguib at its head. As this was going on, the military of Egypt (and later, the UAR) was reformed into a modern military. Generals were chosen based on merit, not through favoritism, and in 1960 a US military observer stated that the military of the UAR was one of the strongest in the world (not as strong as the US or Soviet military, of course, but strong enough to take on pretty much all of its neighbors).
With the UAR formed, it would set its sights on Israel. The failure of the Arab monarchies to defeat Israel in 1948 was the reason for the Egyptian coup in 1952, and destruction of Israel was a promise made by Arab Nationalist leaders. Israel, aware of the UAR's numerical superiority, would also try and build up its military. However, seeing as how the UAR was doing the same thing, Israel realized that it needed allies. It couldn't find any - the US didn't want to alienate the UAR, as it needed their oil, and the USSR already had friendly relations with the UAR. As such, Israel would find itself alone. When war came in 1963, it was no surprise, but what was surprising was how Israel managed to punch above its weight and how it dragged the UAR into a fight which lasted three years. The UAR only won because of a blockade imposed on Israel in 1965, and it is believed that had it not been for that blockade the war would had probably lasted until 1970. Israel would be annexed into the UAR, and millions of Jewish refugees would end up fleeing to the west. So many refugees were leaving, that it meant that revenge attacks weren't common, as there weren't many Jews to take revenge on. Palestinian refugees would return to Palestine and would resettle the area.
The UAR, buoyed by the victory in Israel, would see the ideology of Arab Nationalism begin to spread. For the next ten years after the victory in Israel, the countries of Libya, Sudan, Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania, the Trucial States, Yemen, Oman, and Jordan, would see UAR-backed coup d'etats and revolutions which would change the governments in place, and in turn cause an Arab Nationalist government to be put in its place (Jordan, Yemen, the Trucial States, Libya, Sudan and Oman would be annexed after the coup, but Morocco, Algeria, and Mauritania were more reluctant to be annexed immediately after). The Arab-Iran War of 1975-1977, which led to the annexation of al-Ahwaz, would further strengthen Arab Nationalism. On January 1st, 1980, Algeria, Morocco, and Mauritania, the countries which were led by Arab Nationalists which were reluctant to join the UAR, would finally acquiesce to becoming a part of the UAR, finally achieving the Arabist goal of uniting all of the Arabs into one country.
Naguib would die three years and five days later. He is remembered fondly among the people of the UAR, though there are some liberals and Islamists who are critical of him, the former for his human rights abuses, and the latter for his secularism.
[2] - Vice President Abdul Salam Arif, who was President of Iraq at the time Iraq became a part of the UAR, would become the UAR's second President after Naguib's death.
Arif would become president as Turkey, a US ally, was falling apart. After decades of incompetant authoritarian governance, Turkey began to fall apart at the seams. Islamists, Maoists, Kurdish Separatists, pro-government militias, Armenian separatists, and a few democrats would be involved in Turkey's civil war. As this was going on, President Arif saw an opportunity to take Turkish Hatay/Alexandretta, which was a part of Syria until France gave it to Turkey in the 1930s. This would be condemned by the international community, and small sanctions would be put in place, hurting the UAR's economy.
As Arif became president, the Indonesian Civil War was winding down, and it had become a decisive victory for the Islamists, leading to the formation of the Islamic State of Indonesia. In 1965, a communist coup would occur in Indonesia, thus prompting the US to intervene. The Indonesia War would soon become a quagmire for the US as they found it hard to put down communist insurgents. The Islamist insurgency in Indonesia, which was on the decline before the war, would experience a resurgence, and would battle both communists and Americans. Many Arabs would go to Indonesia to fight alongside them. The US would withdraw in 1976, but the Indonesian Civil War continued. The pro-US Indonesian government did not expect a victory after the US withdrawal, and saw the Islamists as the strongest anti-communist force, so they ended up giving most of their resources to them, and the pro-US government ended up fleeing to Australia. This tipped the scales for the Islamists, and it led to their victory. The Arabs who had fought alongside Indonesian Islamists would end up returning to the UAR, and would use the knowledge and skills they possessed to radicalize other Arabs against the UAR government. If they were not doing that, they were going to Turkey to fight alongside Turkish Islamists. It was becoming a security concern for the UAR government, and as such Arif tried to secularize the UAR much as how Ataturk secularized Turkey. The niqab was banned for all women, and the hijab was banned for working women. A hajj tax would be put in place, in which you would have to pay 1000 Arabian Pounds to a government officer if you would want to go for pilgrimage, and mosques would be closely monitored by the UAR (and in many cases there would be raids in mosques). Clerics who spoke out against this would be arrested. Seeing as how many of those clerics were popular among the people of the UAR, this policy of secularization would soon become unpopular.
Arif would have to intervene in Turkey once again. The Kurdish separatists in Turkey would end up crossing over to the UAR to support Kurdish separatists in the UAR. In time, it soon became a security concern for the UAR, and in 1986 the UAR would begin their intervention in southeastern Turkey. The Kurdish separatists fought hard, and would soon drag the UAR into a quagmire. The original goal of the intervention was to neutralize the ability of Kurdish separatists to pose a threat to the UAR's interests, but it soon switched to finding a way to withdraw and not seem humiliated.
In 1989, the UAR airforce would kill PKK general Cemil Bayik in an airstrike, and it would just be the excuse needed to say "mission accomplished" and leave. The withdrawal of the UAR would lead to the formation of the Democratic Republic of Kurdistan. In an attempt to revive prestige, a nuclear bomb test would occur a few weeks after the withdrawal, thus bringing the UAR into the nuclear club.
Eventually, after years of a bad economy, a failed military intervention, and a failing yet harsh secularization program, the people of the UAR had enough and took to the streets. A crackdown was attempted, but all it did was lead to more sympathy to the protesters. The aging Arif would end up finding many opponents within the ASU, who wanted talks with the demonstrators. This moderate ASU faction would end up pressuring Arif to resign, and give power to the leader of said faction, Ali Abdullah Saleh.
[3] - By the time Saleh became president, many of the demonstrators began to get violent. Police officers were attacked, government buildings were burnt down, and bomb attacks would occur against religious minorities and government offices. Saleh offered a referendum on the proposed "Rabat Constitution" (so called because the constitution was drafted by pro-democracy lawyers in Rabat), which would occur later in the year. The referendum for the constitution would succeed in a vote of 86-14. A day later, Saleh announced new presidential and legislative elections to occur in July 1991. He would also announce the dissolution of the Arab Socialist Union. Saleh would run as a nonpartisan candidate in the election, and would only win 15% of the popular vote.
[4] - Youssofi was one of the drafters of the "Rabat Constitution", and would run under the banner of the Reformist Democratic Party. He would run with Talal al-Saud, the so-called "Red Prince" who played a role in the formation of the UAR, but would later become disillusioned with it in the mid 1970s, and would move to Paris. He would become a vocal opponent of it after a failed assassination attempt in 1980, in which the assassin had links to the UAR government.
Youssofi would work on transitioning the UAR from an autocracy into a democracy. Trials would be held for members of the Arif government, and he would try to woo some religious voters over by ending the ban on the niqab and the hijab (the Hajj tax remained, and alcohol remained legal, much to the consternation of the Muslim Brotherhood). In addition, the death penalty was abolished, though this was not put in the Rabat Constitution (Youssofi had wanted to abolish the death penalty, but this was not a popular idea, and Youssofi wanted more signatories for the Rabat Constitution, and so for the time being he gave up on that idea). When former members of the Arab Socialist Union banded together to form the National Progressive Party, Youssofi would try to get the party banned, but would face opposition from the Supreme Court. Ironically, the Supreme Court ruled that, though previous rulings had marginalized members of the ASU, that banning the NPP would be in violation of the same constitution Youssofi drafted, which stated that there should be no ban on political parties. Youssofi was fairly offended at the ruling, and would move to dismiss Chief Justice Maher el-Beheiry from his position.
Another problem which Youssofi would have to deal with was with the rise of terrorism, specifically Zionist terrorism, in the UAR. Many Zionists never gave up on the dream of a Jewish state, even with Israel's defeat in 1966, and the UAR's revolution and rocky transition to democracy would lead to many Zionist extremists believing that the country is on the verge of collapse, and that when it does collapse then they should be ready for the creation of a Jewish state. Zionist extremists from the west would end up going into the UAR, and after they immigrated they would begin to commit terrorist attacks. In 1996, just a few weeks before the election, three Zionist extremists would begin a massacre of Muslim worshippers in the al-Aqsa Mosque, killing 300. The security lapse was blamed on Youssofi, and that, along with the controversy over banning the NPP would be the cause for Youssofi's loss in 1996.
[5] - Surur was an anti-Shia, Salafi ideologue, who offended not just Shias and other religious minorities, but also many Sufi Sunnis as well. However, he would try to downplay his bigotry in the election campaign and would focus mainly on the economy and on the NPP controversy. With the anti-Brotherhood vote split between the NPP and RDP, Surur would win by only one tenth of a percentage point.
The Muslim Brotherhood government would manage to get a ban on alcohol, and lifted the Hajj tax. Alongside this, he prevented coverage of Christmas, Ashura, Mawlid, Easter, and other religious occasions on the state TV channel besides Ramadan, Eid al-Fitr, and Eid al-Adha. Music would also not be put on state TV. These restrictions would lead to a diversification of the UAR's media, as before that state TV was the only channel on air (once it was the only channel *allowed* on air, but after the 1990-1991 revolution it became the only channel on air as there was no impetus to make more channels, until now).
Foreign policy wise, Surur sought to make the UAR the leader of the Islamic World. First that flag of the UAR would be changed from a secular red-white-black horizontol tricolour to a more Islamic green flag with a crescent, and with Arabic calligraphy which said "United Arab Republic". The UAR would strengthen ties with the Islamic Republic of Bengal, the Islamic Republic of Turkey, and the Islamic State of Indonesia. Furthermore, the UAR would begin to provide aid to Islamic factions in the Soviet Civil War, and this aid would be crucial to the independence of Tatarstan.
Surur's anti-Shiism would lead to the formation of the Islamic Dawa Party. The Islamic Dawa Party would mainly function as a religious Shia party meant to represent Shia interests, and would receive support from religious Shias. The formation of the party looked to be a threat for the RDP, as it was expecting the Shia vote to propel it to victory in 2001, and they began to fear that it would be a spoiler in the election. However, by then Surur had alienated much of the country, and would end up losing re-election.
If there was one thing Surur changed, it was the nature of Islamism in the UAR. For a long time, many Islamists were mainly Ashari, but Surur's presidency would lead to Salafism become prevalent among Islamists in the UAR, with Asharism on the decline. Asharism is still popular among Arab Sunni Muslims, but among Islamists, it is on the decline.
[6] - As Nour came into office, he, along with the NPP, IDP, KDP, and other, smaller parties would try to prevent another Muslim Brotherhood victory from occurring. First was putting in place a run-off system for presidential elections, in which if no candidate has 50% of the vote, a run-off would occur in two weeks in which the top two candidates would face off against each other. There was also an attempt to implement hate speech laws, but that would fail to pass.
Nour would also try to rollback some of the reforms Surur made as he was president. Christmas (along with other religious occasions) would return to state TV channel, as would music. Relations with Bangladesh, Turkey, and Indonesia would be decreased, as the UAR would begin to vote in favor of UN resolutions condemning their human rights violations.
Nour's presidency would occur at a time of worldwide economic growth. The conclusion of the Soviet Civil War would lead to a period of relative peace and prosperity across the world, and said peace and prosperity did not escape the UAR. However, Nour's presidency would be hurt when, in 2006, reports of corruption coming from Prime Minister Ahmed Chalabi would begin to emerge.
Initially, Chalabi would be accused of embezzlement in his banking days, but then it was revealed that a pattern of corruption continued, with reports of bribery emerging as late as 2005. Chalabi would receive the support from the establishment of the RDP, but Vice President Barghouti would end up breaking with the establishment in this situation. The reason for the RDP establishment's support of Chalabi was his reputation of being good at campaigning, and the victory of the RDP in the 2003 legislative elections was attributed to that skill. With legislative elections coming up, the RDP establishment did not wish to get rid of an asset like Chalabi. Eventually, Barghouti would end up resigning in protest. Chalabi held on as Prime Minister even as more allegations came out, and this would lead to 50 other members of the RDP splitting from the party to form the Freedom Party. Said party would end up becoming the opposition, as the amount of vote-splitting done in the 2007 legislative elections would lead to the National Progressive Party becoming the largest party by only two seats. Chalabi would end up leading the RDP to fourth place (though, admittedly there was only a twenty seat difference between the RDP and NPP). After such an electoral disaster, Chalabi was kicked out of his position as leader of the RDP in the legislature. This scandal would lead to the RDP's defeat in 2011.
[7] - The Muslim Brotherhood, the main opposition to the RDP, would end up taking advantage of the scandal regarding Chalabi to win first place in the first round of the 2011 election. The NPP made it second place, and as such made it to the run-off. The Muslim Brotherhood would bring up the NPP's ties to the ASU, while the NPP would fearmonger about a return of the Surur administration. The Muslim Brotherhood did a lot better job convincing people about a return to ASU authoritarianism, then the NPP did trying to convince people that a Tayfour victory would mean an Islamic theocracy.
Tayfour shares many of the same views with Surur. However, unlike Surur, he tends to be a lot more cunning then him. He is not known for his prior inflammatory rhetoric regarding religious minorites, but he does try to push the overton window to where such rhetoric begins to get accepted. Indeed, one can see his election as a reaction which many religious Muslims had over the secularism of the ASU and RDP, a reaction which shows no signs of stopping. The increase in Zionist terror incidents in Palestine just makes it worse. Though Tayfour's rhetoric is not as bad Surur, much of Surur's policies have returned. State TV doesn't play music anymore, nor does it broadcast non-Sunni religious occasions, but this was not done all immediately after becoming president as it was under Surur, it only happened after Tayfour won re-election. The death penalty would be brought back under Tayfour as well. Religious institutions (all of them Salafi) would begin to receive funding from the government, in spite of opposition from the RDP, NPP, and IDP, along with smaller parties.
The choice of a Kurd as Vice President was also a smart choice, as it made the Muslim Brotherhood begin to nibble off the KDP's base in Kurdistan, thus leading to more cooperation in parliament between the KDP and RDP. There were attempts to form a united opposition against the Muslim Brotherhood, as can be seen with the Freedom Party's reabsorption into the RDP, but from there most attempts failed. In fact, the RDP's repudiation of what they termed "Chalabism" led to Ahmed Chalabi running in 2016, siphoning off votes from them in the first round. The failure of the RDP to defeat the Muslim Brotherhood in 2016's second round has led to a demoralized opposition, as many could not believe that so many people in the UAR would support the Muslim Brotherhood. Now, they don't know what to do. Do they become more religious and alienate minorities, or do they remain secular, thus leading to more losses in the future?
The victory of the RDP in the 2019 legislative elections is promising, but it remains to be seen as to whether or not the RDP can achieve a similar victory in 2021. The poll numbers show the Muslim Brotherhood leading the RDP in the presidential race by around three-five points, which means that the RDP cannot just rest on their laurels following the legislative elections. One cannot say, with certainty, what the future of the world's second largest democracy (largest being China) would be.
Presidents of the United Arab Republic
1959 - 1983: Mohamed Naguib / Abdul Salam Arif (Arab Socialist Union) [1]
1961 def: Unopposed
1966 def: Unopposed
1971 def: Unopposed
1976 def: Unopposed
1981 def: Unopposed
1983 - 1990: Abdul Salam Arif / Ali Abdullah Saleh (Arab Socialist Union) [2]
1986 def: Unopposed
1990: Ali Abdullah Saleh / vacant (Arab Socialist Union) [3]
1990 Constitutional Referendum - 86% YES, 14% NO
1990 - 1991: Ali Abdullah Saleh / Abdelaziz Bouteflika (Nonpartisan)
1991 - 1996: Abderrahmane Youssofi / Talal al-Saud (Reformist Democratic Party) [4]
1991 def: Ma'mun al-Hudaybi / Ayad al-Sammari (Muslim Brotherhood), Ali Abdullah Saleh / Abdelaziz Bouteflika (Nonpartisan)
1996 - 2001: Muhammad Surur / Abdullah ibn Husayn al-Ahmar (Muslim Brotherhood) [5]
1996 def: Abderrahmane Yousoffi / Talal al-Saud (Reformist Democratic Party), Safwan al-Qudsi / Mohammad al-Shaar (National Progressive Party)
2001 - 2007: Ayman Nour / Mustafa Barghouti (Reformist Democratic Party) [6]
2001 def: Muhammad Surur / Abdullah ibn Husayn al-Ahmar (Muslim Brotherhood), Assem Qanso / Mohammad Younis al-Ahmed (National Progressive Party), Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr / Nouri al-Maliki (Islamic Dawa Party), Masoud Barzani / Rowsch Shaways (Kurdish Democratic Party)
2006 def: Saad el-Katatni / Mohammad Farouk Tayfour (Muslim Brotherhood), Isam al-Qadi / Sayed Abdal Aal (National Progressive Party), Hassan al Saffar / Amina al-Sadr (Islamic Dawa Party), Masoud Barzani / Rowsch Shaways (Kurdish Democratic Party)
2007 - 2011: Ayman Nour / Ahmad Shafik (Reformist Democratic Party)
2011 - 0000: Mohammad Farouk Tayfour / Ali Bapir (Muslim Brotherhood) [7]
2011 def: Hisham Bastawisy / Khaled Mohieddin (National Progressive Party), Ahmad Shafik / Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi (Reformist Democratic Party), Khaled Ali / Mehdi Joumaa (Freedom Party), Nimr al-Nimr / Suhbi al-Tufayli (Islamic Dawa Party), Masoud Barzani / Nechirvan Barzani (Kurdish Democratic Party)
2016 def: Mustafa Barghouti / Khaled Ali (Reformist Democratic Party), Fayiz Ismail / Saleh al-Mutlaq (National Progressive Party), Nimr al-Nimr / Suhbi al-Tufayli (Islamic Dawa Party), Ahmed Chalabi / various (Arabian National Congress), Nechirvan Barzani / Vala Fareed (Kurdish Democratic Party)
Prime Ministers of the United Arab Republic
1959 - 1965: Ali Sabri (Arab Socialist Union)
1960 def: Unopposed
1965 def: Unopposed
1965 - 1973: Abd al-Rahman al-Bazzaz (Arab Socialist Union)
1970 def: Unopposed
1973 - 1983: Ali Abdullah Saleh (Arab Socialist Union)
1975 def: Unopposed
1980 def: Unopposed
1983 - 1991: Abdul Aziz Abdul Ghani (Arab Socialist Union)
1985 def: Unopposed
1990 def: Unopposed
1991 - 1995: Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour (Reformist Democratic Party)
1991 def: Abbassi Madani (Muslim Brotherhood), Abdul Aziz Abdul Ghani (Arab Socialist Union)
1995 - 1999: Abbassi Madani (Muslim Brotherhood)
1995 def: Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour (Reformist Democratic Party), Akram al-Hawrani (National Progressive Party), Rowsch Shaways (Kurdish Democratic Party)
1999 - 2007: Ahmad Chalabi (Reformist Democratic Party)
1999 def: Abbasi Madani (Muslim Brotherhood), Abdul Halim Khaddam (National Progressive Party) Mahmoud Shahroud (Islamic Dawa Party), Rowsch Shaways (Kurdish Democratic Party)
2003 def: Ali Belhadj (Muslim Brotherhood), Abdul Halim Khaddam (National Progressive Party) Mahmoud Shahroudi (Islamic Dawa Party), Rowsch Shaways (Kurdish Democratic Party)
2007 - 2011: Mohammad al-Shaar (National Progressive Party)
2007 def: Mohand Laesner (Freedom Party), Ali Belhadj (Muslim Brotherhood), Ahmad Chalabi (Reformist Democratic Party), Ali Salman (Islamic Dawa Party), Nechirvan Barzani (Kurdish Democratic Party)
2011 - 2019: Saad el-Katani (Muslim Brotherhood)
2011 def: Bahaa el-Din Abu Shoka (Reformist Democratic Party), Mohammad al-Shaar (National Progressive Party), Mohand Laesner (Freedom Party) Ali Salman (Islamic Dawa Party), Nechirvan Barzani (Kurdish Democratic Party)
2015 def: Bahaa el-Din Abu Shoka (Reformist Democratic Party), Ghassan Othman (National Progressive Party), Ali Salman (Islamic Dawa Party), Nechirvan Barzani (Kurdish Democratic Party)
2019 - 2020: Abdurrahman El-Keib (Reformist Democratic Party)
2019 def: Saad el-Katani (Muslim Brotherhood), Ghassan Othman (National Progressive Party), Ali Salman (Islamic Dawa Party), Nechirvan Barzani (Kurdish Democratic Party)
2020 - 0000: Abdurrahman Mustafa (Reformist Democratic Party)
[1] - Mohamed Naguib became President of Egypt in 1952, following a military coup d'etat which overthrew the Egyptian Monarchy. Naguib would consolidate power for himself in Egypt, and presented himself as the leader of the Arab World, an image bolstered following the nationalization of the Suez Canal, and how he stood down the UK, France, and Israel. The doctrine of Arab Nationalism would begin to spread across the Arab World, such as in Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon. In Saudi Arabia, in 1957, a coup d'etat by the Free Princes Movement, led by Talal al-Saud, would reform Saudi Arabia into the Republic of the Arabian Peninsula, and would align itself with the Arab Nationalist bloc. The Saudi coup would be the basis for the formation of the United Arab Republic in 1959, with Naguib at its head. As this was going on, the military of Egypt (and later, the UAR) was reformed into a modern military. Generals were chosen based on merit, not through favoritism, and in 1960 a US military observer stated that the military of the UAR was one of the strongest in the world (not as strong as the US or Soviet military, of course, but strong enough to take on pretty much all of its neighbors).
With the UAR formed, it would set its sights on Israel. The failure of the Arab monarchies to defeat Israel in 1948 was the reason for the Egyptian coup in 1952, and destruction of Israel was a promise made by Arab Nationalist leaders. Israel, aware of the UAR's numerical superiority, would also try and build up its military. However, seeing as how the UAR was doing the same thing, Israel realized that it needed allies. It couldn't find any - the US didn't want to alienate the UAR, as it needed their oil, and the USSR already had friendly relations with the UAR. As such, Israel would find itself alone. When war came in 1963, it was no surprise, but what was surprising was how Israel managed to punch above its weight and how it dragged the UAR into a fight which lasted three years. The UAR only won because of a blockade imposed on Israel in 1965, and it is believed that had it not been for that blockade the war would had probably lasted until 1970. Israel would be annexed into the UAR, and millions of Jewish refugees would end up fleeing to the west. So many refugees were leaving, that it meant that revenge attacks weren't common, as there weren't many Jews to take revenge on. Palestinian refugees would return to Palestine and would resettle the area.
The UAR, buoyed by the victory in Israel, would see the ideology of Arab Nationalism begin to spread. For the next ten years after the victory in Israel, the countries of Libya, Sudan, Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania, the Trucial States, Yemen, Oman, and Jordan, would see UAR-backed coup d'etats and revolutions which would change the governments in place, and in turn cause an Arab Nationalist government to be put in its place (Jordan, Yemen, the Trucial States, Libya, Sudan and Oman would be annexed after the coup, but Morocco, Algeria, and Mauritania were more reluctant to be annexed immediately after). The Arab-Iran War of 1975-1977, which led to the annexation of al-Ahwaz, would further strengthen Arab Nationalism. On January 1st, 1980, Algeria, Morocco, and Mauritania, the countries which were led by Arab Nationalists which were reluctant to join the UAR, would finally acquiesce to becoming a part of the UAR, finally achieving the Arabist goal of uniting all of the Arabs into one country.
Naguib would die three years and five days later. He is remembered fondly among the people of the UAR, though there are some liberals and Islamists who are critical of him, the former for his human rights abuses, and the latter for his secularism.
[2] - Vice President Abdul Salam Arif, who was President of Iraq at the time Iraq became a part of the UAR, would become the UAR's second President after Naguib's death.
Arif would become president as Turkey, a US ally, was falling apart. After decades of incompetant authoritarian governance, Turkey began to fall apart at the seams. Islamists, Maoists, Kurdish Separatists, pro-government militias, Armenian separatists, and a few democrats would be involved in Turkey's civil war. As this was going on, President Arif saw an opportunity to take Turkish Hatay/Alexandretta, which was a part of Syria until France gave it to Turkey in the 1930s. This would be condemned by the international community, and small sanctions would be put in place, hurting the UAR's economy.
As Arif became president, the Indonesian Civil War was winding down, and it had become a decisive victory for the Islamists, leading to the formation of the Islamic State of Indonesia. In 1965, a communist coup would occur in Indonesia, thus prompting the US to intervene. The Indonesia War would soon become a quagmire for the US as they found it hard to put down communist insurgents. The Islamist insurgency in Indonesia, which was on the decline before the war, would experience a resurgence, and would battle both communists and Americans. Many Arabs would go to Indonesia to fight alongside them. The US would withdraw in 1976, but the Indonesian Civil War continued. The pro-US Indonesian government did not expect a victory after the US withdrawal, and saw the Islamists as the strongest anti-communist force, so they ended up giving most of their resources to them, and the pro-US government ended up fleeing to Australia. This tipped the scales for the Islamists, and it led to their victory. The Arabs who had fought alongside Indonesian Islamists would end up returning to the UAR, and would use the knowledge and skills they possessed to radicalize other Arabs against the UAR government. If they were not doing that, they were going to Turkey to fight alongside Turkish Islamists. It was becoming a security concern for the UAR government, and as such Arif tried to secularize the UAR much as how Ataturk secularized Turkey. The niqab was banned for all women, and the hijab was banned for working women. A hajj tax would be put in place, in which you would have to pay 1000 Arabian Pounds to a government officer if you would want to go for pilgrimage, and mosques would be closely monitored by the UAR (and in many cases there would be raids in mosques). Clerics who spoke out against this would be arrested. Seeing as how many of those clerics were popular among the people of the UAR, this policy of secularization would soon become unpopular.
Arif would have to intervene in Turkey once again. The Kurdish separatists in Turkey would end up crossing over to the UAR to support Kurdish separatists in the UAR. In time, it soon became a security concern for the UAR, and in 1986 the UAR would begin their intervention in southeastern Turkey. The Kurdish separatists fought hard, and would soon drag the UAR into a quagmire. The original goal of the intervention was to neutralize the ability of Kurdish separatists to pose a threat to the UAR's interests, but it soon switched to finding a way to withdraw and not seem humiliated.
In 1989, the UAR airforce would kill PKK general Cemil Bayik in an airstrike, and it would just be the excuse needed to say "mission accomplished" and leave. The withdrawal of the UAR would lead to the formation of the Democratic Republic of Kurdistan. In an attempt to revive prestige, a nuclear bomb test would occur a few weeks after the withdrawal, thus bringing the UAR into the nuclear club.
Eventually, after years of a bad economy, a failed military intervention, and a failing yet harsh secularization program, the people of the UAR had enough and took to the streets. A crackdown was attempted, but all it did was lead to more sympathy to the protesters. The aging Arif would end up finding many opponents within the ASU, who wanted talks with the demonstrators. This moderate ASU faction would end up pressuring Arif to resign, and give power to the leader of said faction, Ali Abdullah Saleh.
[3] - By the time Saleh became president, many of the demonstrators began to get violent. Police officers were attacked, government buildings were burnt down, and bomb attacks would occur against religious minorities and government offices. Saleh offered a referendum on the proposed "Rabat Constitution" (so called because the constitution was drafted by pro-democracy lawyers in Rabat), which would occur later in the year. The referendum for the constitution would succeed in a vote of 86-14. A day later, Saleh announced new presidential and legislative elections to occur in July 1991. He would also announce the dissolution of the Arab Socialist Union. Saleh would run as a nonpartisan candidate in the election, and would only win 15% of the popular vote.
[4] - Youssofi was one of the drafters of the "Rabat Constitution", and would run under the banner of the Reformist Democratic Party. He would run with Talal al-Saud, the so-called "Red Prince" who played a role in the formation of the UAR, but would later become disillusioned with it in the mid 1970s, and would move to Paris. He would become a vocal opponent of it after a failed assassination attempt in 1980, in which the assassin had links to the UAR government.
Youssofi would work on transitioning the UAR from an autocracy into a democracy. Trials would be held for members of the Arif government, and he would try to woo some religious voters over by ending the ban on the niqab and the hijab (the Hajj tax remained, and alcohol remained legal, much to the consternation of the Muslim Brotherhood). In addition, the death penalty was abolished, though this was not put in the Rabat Constitution (Youssofi had wanted to abolish the death penalty, but this was not a popular idea, and Youssofi wanted more signatories for the Rabat Constitution, and so for the time being he gave up on that idea). When former members of the Arab Socialist Union banded together to form the National Progressive Party, Youssofi would try to get the party banned, but would face opposition from the Supreme Court. Ironically, the Supreme Court ruled that, though previous rulings had marginalized members of the ASU, that banning the NPP would be in violation of the same constitution Youssofi drafted, which stated that there should be no ban on political parties. Youssofi was fairly offended at the ruling, and would move to dismiss Chief Justice Maher el-Beheiry from his position.
Another problem which Youssofi would have to deal with was with the rise of terrorism, specifically Zionist terrorism, in the UAR. Many Zionists never gave up on the dream of a Jewish state, even with Israel's defeat in 1966, and the UAR's revolution and rocky transition to democracy would lead to many Zionist extremists believing that the country is on the verge of collapse, and that when it does collapse then they should be ready for the creation of a Jewish state. Zionist extremists from the west would end up going into the UAR, and after they immigrated they would begin to commit terrorist attacks. In 1996, just a few weeks before the election, three Zionist extremists would begin a massacre of Muslim worshippers in the al-Aqsa Mosque, killing 300. The security lapse was blamed on Youssofi, and that, along with the controversy over banning the NPP would be the cause for Youssofi's loss in 1996.
[5] - Surur was an anti-Shia, Salafi ideologue, who offended not just Shias and other religious minorities, but also many Sufi Sunnis as well. However, he would try to downplay his bigotry in the election campaign and would focus mainly on the economy and on the NPP controversy. With the anti-Brotherhood vote split between the NPP and RDP, Surur would win by only one tenth of a percentage point.
The Muslim Brotherhood government would manage to get a ban on alcohol, and lifted the Hajj tax. Alongside this, he prevented coverage of Christmas, Ashura, Mawlid, Easter, and other religious occasions on the state TV channel besides Ramadan, Eid al-Fitr, and Eid al-Adha. Music would also not be put on state TV. These restrictions would lead to a diversification of the UAR's media, as before that state TV was the only channel on air (once it was the only channel *allowed* on air, but after the 1990-1991 revolution it became the only channel on air as there was no impetus to make more channels, until now).
Foreign policy wise, Surur sought to make the UAR the leader of the Islamic World. First that flag of the UAR would be changed from a secular red-white-black horizontol tricolour to a more Islamic green flag with a crescent, and with Arabic calligraphy which said "United Arab Republic". The UAR would strengthen ties with the Islamic Republic of Bengal, the Islamic Republic of Turkey, and the Islamic State of Indonesia. Furthermore, the UAR would begin to provide aid to Islamic factions in the Soviet Civil War, and this aid would be crucial to the independence of Tatarstan.
Surur's anti-Shiism would lead to the formation of the Islamic Dawa Party. The Islamic Dawa Party would mainly function as a religious Shia party meant to represent Shia interests, and would receive support from religious Shias. The formation of the party looked to be a threat for the RDP, as it was expecting the Shia vote to propel it to victory in 2001, and they began to fear that it would be a spoiler in the election. However, by then Surur had alienated much of the country, and would end up losing re-election.
If there was one thing Surur changed, it was the nature of Islamism in the UAR. For a long time, many Islamists were mainly Ashari, but Surur's presidency would lead to Salafism become prevalent among Islamists in the UAR, with Asharism on the decline. Asharism is still popular among Arab Sunni Muslims, but among Islamists, it is on the decline.
[6] - As Nour came into office, he, along with the NPP, IDP, KDP, and other, smaller parties would try to prevent another Muslim Brotherhood victory from occurring. First was putting in place a run-off system for presidential elections, in which if no candidate has 50% of the vote, a run-off would occur in two weeks in which the top two candidates would face off against each other. There was also an attempt to implement hate speech laws, but that would fail to pass.
Nour would also try to rollback some of the reforms Surur made as he was president. Christmas (along with other religious occasions) would return to state TV channel, as would music. Relations with Bangladesh, Turkey, and Indonesia would be decreased, as the UAR would begin to vote in favor of UN resolutions condemning their human rights violations.
Nour's presidency would occur at a time of worldwide economic growth. The conclusion of the Soviet Civil War would lead to a period of relative peace and prosperity across the world, and said peace and prosperity did not escape the UAR. However, Nour's presidency would be hurt when, in 2006, reports of corruption coming from Prime Minister Ahmed Chalabi would begin to emerge.
Initially, Chalabi would be accused of embezzlement in his banking days, but then it was revealed that a pattern of corruption continued, with reports of bribery emerging as late as 2005. Chalabi would receive the support from the establishment of the RDP, but Vice President Barghouti would end up breaking with the establishment in this situation. The reason for the RDP establishment's support of Chalabi was his reputation of being good at campaigning, and the victory of the RDP in the 2003 legislative elections was attributed to that skill. With legislative elections coming up, the RDP establishment did not wish to get rid of an asset like Chalabi. Eventually, Barghouti would end up resigning in protest. Chalabi held on as Prime Minister even as more allegations came out, and this would lead to 50 other members of the RDP splitting from the party to form the Freedom Party. Said party would end up becoming the opposition, as the amount of vote-splitting done in the 2007 legislative elections would lead to the National Progressive Party becoming the largest party by only two seats. Chalabi would end up leading the RDP to fourth place (though, admittedly there was only a twenty seat difference between the RDP and NPP). After such an electoral disaster, Chalabi was kicked out of his position as leader of the RDP in the legislature. This scandal would lead to the RDP's defeat in 2011.
[7] - The Muslim Brotherhood, the main opposition to the RDP, would end up taking advantage of the scandal regarding Chalabi to win first place in the first round of the 2011 election. The NPP made it second place, and as such made it to the run-off. The Muslim Brotherhood would bring up the NPP's ties to the ASU, while the NPP would fearmonger about a return of the Surur administration. The Muslim Brotherhood did a lot better job convincing people about a return to ASU authoritarianism, then the NPP did trying to convince people that a Tayfour victory would mean an Islamic theocracy.
Tayfour shares many of the same views with Surur. However, unlike Surur, he tends to be a lot more cunning then him. He is not known for his prior inflammatory rhetoric regarding religious minorites, but he does try to push the overton window to where such rhetoric begins to get accepted. Indeed, one can see his election as a reaction which many religious Muslims had over the secularism of the ASU and RDP, a reaction which shows no signs of stopping. The increase in Zionist terror incidents in Palestine just makes it worse. Though Tayfour's rhetoric is not as bad Surur, much of Surur's policies have returned. State TV doesn't play music anymore, nor does it broadcast non-Sunni religious occasions, but this was not done all immediately after becoming president as it was under Surur, it only happened after Tayfour won re-election. The death penalty would be brought back under Tayfour as well. Religious institutions (all of them Salafi) would begin to receive funding from the government, in spite of opposition from the RDP, NPP, and IDP, along with smaller parties.
The choice of a Kurd as Vice President was also a smart choice, as it made the Muslim Brotherhood begin to nibble off the KDP's base in Kurdistan, thus leading to more cooperation in parliament between the KDP and RDP. There were attempts to form a united opposition against the Muslim Brotherhood, as can be seen with the Freedom Party's reabsorption into the RDP, but from there most attempts failed. In fact, the RDP's repudiation of what they termed "Chalabism" led to Ahmed Chalabi running in 2016, siphoning off votes from them in the first round. The failure of the RDP to defeat the Muslim Brotherhood in 2016's second round has led to a demoralized opposition, as many could not believe that so many people in the UAR would support the Muslim Brotherhood. Now, they don't know what to do. Do they become more religious and alienate minorities, or do they remain secular, thus leading to more losses in the future?
The victory of the RDP in the 2019 legislative elections is promising, but it remains to be seen as to whether or not the RDP can achieve a similar victory in 2021. The poll numbers show the Muslim Brotherhood leading the RDP in the presidential race by around three-five points, which means that the RDP cannot just rest on their laurels following the legislative elections. One cannot say, with certainty, what the future of the world's second largest democracy (largest being China) would be.
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