CAIRO - The Muslim Brotherhood on Monday projected its candidate as the winner of Egypt’s first competitive presidential election, hours after the ruling military council issued an interim constitution granting itself broad power over the future government, all but eliminating the president’s authority in an apparent effort to guard against a victory by the Islamist candidate.

The military’s new charter is the latest in a series of swift steps the generals have taken to tighten their grasp on power just at the moment when they had promised to hand over to elected civilians the authority that they assumed after the ouster of Hosni Mubarak last year. Their charter gives them control of all laws and the national budget, immunity from oversight, and the power to veto a declaration of war.