A senior Salafi preacher rejected on Tuesday the possibility that the next vice president would be a Copt or woman, although President Mohamed Morsy's advisers have said he would choose deputies from both of those groups.
“If the president appoints two deputies [who are] women or Copts, we would denounce this. He promised us not to appoint them," Sheikh Yasser Borhamy, the deputy leader of the Salafi Dawah group, told privately owned Al-Hayat 2 satellite channel.
Borhamy, who has a reputation for making controversial statements, said he opposes the idea because the vice president would become acting president in the event that anything happens to Morsy.
“The president was clear with us when he said he would select a woman and a Copt as his advisers not deputies,” he said, also denying a reported agreement with the Brotherhood that the Salafi-oriented Nour Party will take over the education and agriculture ministries.
He claimed during his talk show appearance that Morsy and Muslim Brotherhood Deputy Supreme Guide Khairat al-Shater had earlier promised him that the second article of the constitution would make Islamic Law the main source of legislation.
Borhamy said they called for dropping the word "principles" so the article would be clear.
He also advocated that the new constitution stipulate the president must be Muslim and that it be drafted before September.
The Dawah deputy leader predicted that the Nour Party would win the same number of seats in Parliament if the body is dissolved based on the recent Supreme Constitutional Court ruling and new elections held.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
