The Muslim Brotherhood should not name one of its members as a candidate for the May presidential election, a board member of the group’s Freedom and Justice Party said.
“It would be unfair if one political group assumes responsibility for Parliament, the cabinet and the presidency in such circumstances,” Mohamed al-Beltagy said in remarks posted on his Facebook page.
He added that such move would be unfair for the Brotherhood because it would be dominating the Parliament and also seeking to form a coalition government.
Beltagy also said that the group should try to restore unity among political groups after the controversy over its role in the formation of the panel that will draft Egypt’s new constitution.
He admitted that the group has made mistakes that contributed to political rifts.
On Saturday, both chambers of the Egyptian Parliament, the People’s Assembly and the Shura Council, elected a 100-member constituent assembly that will draft the country’s new constitution.
Nearly two-thirds of the assembly’s members are Islamists, who hold a majority in the first parliament elected after the ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak last year.
Five secular political parties had announced their boycott of the constitutional panel, saying that its Islamist-dominated membership does not make a civil state constitution possible.
The Brotherhood is currently at odds with the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces which, on Sunday, slammed the group over its recurrent attack on Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri’s cabinet.
“If we allow regression to the old political equation of the Brotherhood versus the regime, that will represent a step back to the pre-January revolution era,” Beltagy said.
However, he supported the Brotherhood in its attack on the current prime minister and government.
“The current crises suffered by the country are mainly government-made,” he said. “The SCAF’s insistence to maintain this cabinet makes it fully responsible for all those problems.”
