CAIRO – Its tanks were cheered by raucous crowds during the January revolt, but today the army is under fire for pulling the reins on reform as it scrambles to retain some influence in Egypt’s future, analysts say.

As Egyptians prepare to vote Monday in the country’s first legislative elections since the uprising, the military which took power when Hosni Mubarak was ousted has been the target of vehement attacks by pro-democracy movements who accuse it of reneging on promises of reform.

“The army is behaving as though the ouster of Hosni Mubarak was a coup d’etat and not a revolution,” said Nevine Mossaad, professor of political science at Cairo University.

“It would like to continue as though nothing happened, but it had to yield many things” under pressure from revolution movements or the powerful Muslim Brotherhood, she said.

Today, the military’s goal could be to transfer power to a civilian authority after the election of a new president in 2012, but on condition of preserving its interests and without paying the price of change.

“I don’t think the army wants to stay in power indefinitely, but it wants to guarantee that when it leaves the Mubarak scenario is not repeated,” said Mossaad of the former president facing trial for the killing of protesters. 

The recent proposal of supra constitutional principles — criticized within political circles — has relaunched the argument that the military’s withdrawal could take place when it knows its privileges will be guaranteed.

The document would see the military have a final say on all legislation concerning it, and would see its budget shielded from public scrutiny.

According to a public opinion survey conducted by the University of Maryland, 43 percent of Egyptians believe their military rulers are working to slow or reverse the gains made in the Tahrir Square uprising.

Another 21 percent felt the military authorities were striving to advance those gains, while 14 percent considered them to be indifferent, according to a five-nation snapshot of Arab public opinion.

Since the 1952 revolution that toppled the monarchy, all of Egypt’s presidents have come from the ranks of the military: Mohammed Naguib, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak.

Its highest ranking officer, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi is now in charge of the country.