The leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Freedom and Justice Party held a number of meetings over the past few days with various party heads to discuss withdrawing confidence from Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri and the formation of a coalition government, Brotherhood sources said on Tuesday.
The sources said the meetings included Brotherhood deputy chairman Khairat al-Shater before he traveled to Qatar on Monday, FJP chairman Mohamed Morsy, and heads of the Salafi Nour Party, the Jama’a al-Islamiya’s Building and Development Party, and the Egyptian Social Democratic Party.
The sources expected the meetings to go on with other party leaders in the coming days. FJP leader Hassan al-Bishbishy said negotiations were ongoing with various parties to attempt to form a cabinet a month from now.
Sayed Mostafa, Nour Party vice president and chairman of the parliamentary bloc, said the party’s High Committee would meet within hours to discuss whether or not to support the withdrawal of confidence from the Ganzouri cabinet. He pointed out that the Nour Party retreated from its position of supporting the Ganzouri cabinet following his statements before the People’s Assembly.
However Nour Party MP Talat Marzouk, chairman of the People’s Assembly’s Complaints Committee, said that none of the parties, with the exception of the FJP, has a clear stance. He noted that Ganzouri would be delivering a statement on Sunday, adding that Sunday’s session would be crucial.
Last month, the FJP and Muslim Brotherhood offered to lead a new coalition government in collaboration with other political forces, but later announced that the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces rejected the proposal.
Party members believe the current government is required to pave the way for a more efficient cabinet. They had vowed to force the government to resign by pressing it with repeated requests to appear for questioning before Parliament.
Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm
