Forty-four percent of members in the Jama’a al-Islamiya’s General Assembly said they would vote for Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh, an ex-Muslim Brotherhood member, while 25.8 percent said they would vote for Mohamed Morsy, head of the Freedom and Justice Party, according to a poll conducted by the assembly on Wednesday to determine which Islamist presidential candidate it would support in the upcoming elections. The assembly announced the poll results during a press conference on Thursday.
The Jama’a al-Islamiya General Assembly will hold a new vote no later than Sunday, as according to its rules the candidate they support must receive 50 percent plus one votes.
The assembly decided to base their decision on who to support on the poll results following the failure of other Islamist movements, organizations, and parties to reach an agreement on which presidential candidate to endorse. Earlier this week FJP MP Saad al-Husseini said the Brotherhood would only endorse Morsy.
Abouel Fotouh was a member of Jama’a al-Islamiya in the 1970s before leaving the group to join the Muslim Brotherhood. He was expelled from the Brotherhood after he announced his presidential bid, as the group had announced that it would not field a presidential candidate — a decision it later reversed.
Edited translation from MENA
