Helmy al-Gazzar, a member of the Freedom and Justice Party’s executive committee and the Muslim Brotherhood's Guidance Bureau, has said that the bureau will meet in two weeks to discuss supporting a presidential candidate.
“The FJP will have the final decision on who to endorse,” he said.
Party leaders have said that the group would not support any of the existing candidates, including Islamist candidate Mohamed Selim al-Awa, and that the candidate it would finally chooses would be a surprise.
FJP MP Mohamed Emad Eddin said the group is against the idea of a “consensus” president who would be approved by all political forces. “We would thereby be imposing him on the people,” he said.
Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie had on Tuesday said that the candidate who would be supported by the group must be a true Muslim who does not necessarily belong to a particular Islamic movement.
Earlier on Thursday, the Free Egyptians Party demanded that the Brotherhood and its Freedom and Justice Party reveal who they are planning to support in the elections.
Young members of the Muslim Brotherhood were displeased with an Al-Masry Al-Youm report that the Brotherhood may insist that the vice presidential candidate be a Brotherhood member so the youth of the group do not vote for Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh.
“If the vice president is from the Brotherhood, he will allow a safe exit for the military and will not bring those who killed protesters during the revolution to trial,” said Bassem Qutb, a youth member of the Brotherhood, told Al-Masry Al-Youm.
Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm
