A member of the ruling military council asked former deputy prime minister and legal expert Yehia al-Gamal to run for president because he was accepted by both Copts and Muslims, Gamal said Wednesday.
In an interview on the privately owned Dream TV channel, Gamal said Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, head of the council, was there and left during his meeting with Sami Anan, the council member and armed forces chief of staff who asked Gamal to run.
The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has denied that it has a preferred presidential candidate. But activists are skeptical about the council’s intentions to hand over power to an elected civilian president.
During the interview, Gamal discussed the different candidates.
“Ahmed Shafiq is a polite, organized person. However, being a former regime official would make him face difficulties,” Gamal said. He said most of the candidates are his friends and were his students in law school.
Gamal said presidential candidate Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh is the “nearest to Egyptians’ hearts.”
“He is a Muslim who believes in the civilian state, and this makes him the most qualified for the post,” Gamal said.
Gamal warned against fragmenting votes between Abouel Fotouh and the Muslim Brotherhood’s nominee, Mohamed Morsy, saying this would lead to another candidate winning, such as Amr Moussa. He said he expects Moussa to continue to runoff elections against Abouel Fotouh and Morsy.
Gamal said the Brotherhood “had lost ground among the people. The honeymoon between it, the military council and people is over because of its wish to control everything.”
He also warned against mixing religion and policy, saying this would harm them both.
Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm
