The Freedom and Justice Party is seeking to create a united front with presidential candidates and revolutionary groups to counter the rise of former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq, who came second in the first round of the presidential election.
FJP candidate Mohamed Morsy came top in the first round of the vote on 23 and 24 May, only a thin margin ahead of runner-up Shafiq, according to unofficial vote counting results. The results have raised the concerns of revolutionaries and the other presidential candidates, who consider Shafiq’s potential victory a failure for the 2011 revolution that ousted longtime leader Hosni Mubarak.
At a press conference on Friday, the Muslim Brotherhood-led FJP announced it had already started negotiations with a number of party chiefs and presidential candidates.
Karem Radwan, a member of the Brotherhood’s Shura Council, said the group is considering appointing leftist Hamdeen Sabbahi and moderate Islamist Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh, who ranked third and fourth in the race respectively, if Morsy wins the presidency.
Officials from the Brotherhood, including Morsy, held a meeting at the group’s headquarters in Cairo on Saturday to assess the first phase of the election and address its drawbacks.
Meanwhile, the presidential campaigns of Sabbahi, Abouel Fotouh and former Arab League chief Amr Moussa denied news that they will lend their support to Morsy in the run-off.
Sabbahi said at a press conference on Saturday that he would not agree to be Morsy’s deputy.
“I won’t accept a position or a title,” he told crowds of supporters. “I won’t compromise.”
Revolutionary groups and activists, meanwhile, suggested that Morsy drop out of the race in the favor of Sabbahi.
But Mohamed al-Beltagy, a prominent FJP member, told Al Jazeera Mubasher Misr on Saturday that such a step would be illegal, because a candidate cannot bow out of the race after the period for withdrawing had ended.
It's not legally clear if Morsy’s withdrawal from the race before the Presidential Elections Commission officially announces the results of the first round would push Sabbahi into a runoff with Shafiq.
Beltagy added that Morsy’s withdrawal would lead to Shafiq’s victory. Beltagy said the Brotherhood is seeking to give guarantees to political players in order to gain support to Morsy, including pledges to appoint Sabbahi and Abouel Fotouh as deputies for Morsy.
He also said the party is ready to from a presidential team of consultants and aides from the various political powers and to form a coalition government.
Sabbahi and Moussa are seeking a suspension of the election, citing irregularities in Shafiq’s favor.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
