Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, the former head of Egypt's Army, won a landslide victory in presidential elections held last month. The retired field marshal was sworn in Sunday as Egypt's new president. His job now is to forge unity in a country deeply divided, and restore trust in a political system that has demonstrated extraordinary flaws. Only then will he be able to get the Egyptian economy back on track, an absolute precondition to stability in one of the Middle East's most important countries.

After mass demonstrations erupted throughout Egypt last summer, al-Sisi, minister of defense, along with other military leaders gave President Mohammed Morsi an ultimatum, insisting that he accede to the demands of the protesters or step down. Morsi, convinced that he had a popular mandate and that the protests, along with the problems his administration faced, were the product of holdovers from the Mubarak regime he replaced, refused. A military council stepped in last July, deposing the president and charging him with disregarding the wishes of the people, acting against the constitution and setting up a shadow administration that was to be dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood. Mass arrests of government officials, as well as Muslim Brotherhood leaders and activists, followed.

At first, al-Sisi insisted that he had no intention of running for president. Soon, however, he quit the military and began his campaign. For many Egyptians, al-Sisi is a new pharaoh, a strong man who will restore Egypt to its rightful place as the leading nation in the Middle East, as well as a bulwark against the encroachment of Islamic values on the secular state.