“Wishful thinking,” said presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq, commenting on certain MPs and representatives of political forces saying they would oust him if he wins by holding mass demonstrations against him.
He said that he would only allow demonstrations that abide by the law, as happens all over the world, but if demonstrators digress from peacefulness, he would stop them with the law, as happens in the United States and England.
“How can some 200,000 demonstrators or so topple someone who has been elected by millions?” he said in a talk show on Monday, assuring that he would cut electricity from Tahrir Square should demonstrations be held there to oppose his victory.
Shafiq held Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, a Salafi preacher who was excluded from the presidential elections, responsible for the violent events in Abbasseya Square.
He also said that he could restore order to the street in no more than six hours.
He expressed his discontent with Parliament, particularly the MPs of the Freedom and Justice Party, for approving a bill that curtails the role of Al-Azhar by not considering it the only reference for fatwa and Sharia. “It is a moderate institution that enjoys the respect of the entire Islamic world,” he said.
“I call for putting this forward in a referendum,” he said. “We must stop those dark forces from monopolizing religion to pass their own political agenda.”
Shafiq threatened to expose certain media personnel and politicians who were working for the former regime and the dissolved State Security Investigation Services and then turned against him, claiming they are revolutionaries. “I have documents against them that I shall release in due time,” he said.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
