At last

In a historic moment for the world's most populous Arab country and in a defining moment also for the Arab Spring, Mohamed Morsi was on Sunday officially named as the victor in the recent Egyptian presidential election.

That much is clear and should be celebrated; but many questions remain as to the degree of his power and about his relationship with the Supreme Court of the Armed Forces which has yet to relinquish many of the functions it assumed for the interim period following president Mubarak's resignation.

Furthermore, Mr Morsi has to fill the administrative and legislative vacuum caused by the absence of a constitution and the fact that the previously elected parliament is partly suspended.

Mr Morsi is a veteran member of the 80-year-old Muslim Brotherhood movement and there are understandable concerns about how far his policies will be determined by its Islamist principles. He has said that he wants to be a leader for all Egyptians and to that end will appoint Vice Presidents representing the country's Coptic Christians and other minority groups. There are countless daunting issues to be resolved and as yet there is no infrastructure to deal with them. But at least the spirit and aspirations of last year's revolution are at last represented by a single person with public approval behind him -- an important advance from the confusion of recent months.