Souad al-Saqqari plans to be the first woman to run for the presidency of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party.
Elections for the post are scheduled for 19 October. The seat has been vacant since former party chief Mohamed Morsy was elected as president in June.
Saqqari, who works as the women’s secretary in the party’s downtown Cairo office, told Al-Masry Al-Youm she was confident of winning the votes of both men and women. She stressed that her nomination reflects gender equality within the party.
Saqqari said she cannot serve the party — if she is elected — without the help of fellow members, adding that she had consulted her husband, along with other close personalities, before taking the decision to run the elections.
Khaled Ouda, the party’s parliamentary affairs official for the South Cairo office, said he also had applied for nomination and is certain of winning. He said that through his nomination, he seeks to break the rules and prove that not only big names can apply for the party’s chairmanship, and that no restrictions are placed on nominations for the post.
The top two candidates for the position are Essam al-Erian, the party’s caretaker president, and the former speaker of the dissolved People’s Assembly, Saad al-Katatny.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
