President-elect Mohamed Morsy will appoint an independent prime minister from outside the Muslim Brotherhood's ranks, his spokesperson Yasser Ali said Wednesday.
Ali also said a statement would be issued Thursday providing more details about the president's oath of office.
Ali denied reports that the ruling military council would preserve the right to appoint ministers with sovereign portfolios or that FJP members would make up 30 percent of the government, dismissing them as false press speculations.
Muslim Brotherhood Deputy Supreme Guide Mahmoud Ezzat said he was privy to discussions about the cabinet formation and affirmed that the president would choose non-Brotherhood deputies. A coalition government not only seeks to reassure people, he said in an interview with the Saudi satellite TV channel Al Arabiya, but the Brotherhood also believes that its project cannot be achieved by the Freedom and Justice Party alone.
Ali also said legal measures would be taken against the Iranian news agency Fars, which he claims fabricated an interview in which Morsy reportedly expressed interest in restoring ties with Iran. Ali said the alleged interview never happened.
The location of Morsy's swearing-in ceremony will be decided within two days, Ali said in a statement published on the Freedom and Justice Party's Facebook page.
Former members of the disbanded Parliament demand that Morsy be sworn in before the People’s Assembly, while others insist he take the oath in front of the Supreme Constitutional Court, the same court that ordered the dissolution of the assembly.
An administrative court on Tuesday postponed to 10 July a ruling on lawsuits over the recently issued supplement to the Constitutional Declaration, Egypt's interim constitution. The supplement, issued by the ruling military council shortly before the runoff election on 16 and 17 June, says the new president will be sworn in before the Supreme Constitutional Court and also limits the power of the executive post.
Morsy, the Muslim Brotherhood candidate, beat former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq in a runoff election that pitted the decades-old Islamist group against a member of the Hosni Mubarak regime.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
