Egypt

Brotherhood forms committee to mull political groups’ demands

The Muslim Brotherhood Guidance Bureau formed a committee Sunday headed by its former supreme guide and a number of group leaders to discuss demands made by some political and revolutionary organizations.

Former Supreme Guide Mahdi Akef, MPs from the group’s Freedom and Justice Party and other leaders are members of the committee.

Some groups demand that the Brotherhood name two vice presidents and a prime minister in exchange for their support of candidate Mohamed Morsy in the runoff election.

The runoff between Morsy and former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq is set to start Saturday.

MPs Essam al-Erian, a member of the Guidance Bureau, and Mohamed al-Beltagy, Cairo’s FJP secretary, had handed a memo to the bureau that included the demands of the political groups and urged a quick response to them to ensure votes for Morsy.

The FJP had previously rejected the idea of forming a presidential council headed by Morsy that would include former candidates Hamdeen Sabbahi and Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh as his deputies, even though Abouel Fotouh — a former Brotherhood member — had on Sunday announced his support for Morsy in the runoff.

Sabbahi and Abouel Fotouh had finished third and fourth respectively in the first round of the race.

The Brotherhood party has faced fierce criticism from many liberal and revolutionary political groups because of what they describe as the group’s attempt to control all political channels, starting from Parliament and the presidency and ending with the Constituent Assembly.

Such criticism could reduce Morsy’s chances of winning the presidential seat.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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