The opposition coalition National Salvation Front may mobilize supporters to call for early presidential elections, front spokesperson Ahmed Hassan al-Borai said Wednesday.
President Mohamed Morsy took office in June 2012 and is supposed to serve a four-year term, but the opposition group says his poor crisis management amid ongoing unrest may prompt the front to call for elections as soon as possible, Borai told Al-Masry Al-Youm.
Borai, who is also the deputy head of the Dostour Party, claimed Morsy's administration is on the verge of collapse and said calling for early elections is legitimate given the president's obstinacy.
Morsy, the Interior Ministry and the Muslim Brotherhood have insisted on using excessive force against demonstrators, he claimed.
Several activist groups are planning to protest Friday under the slogan "The people want to bring down the regime." They say the Muslim Brotherhood has no intention to respond to the demands of protesters and vow to continue demonstrating until the group is brought down.
At least 53 people have died in protests in several governorates since demonstrations began last week. Protesters have again taken to the streets against the government and to mark the 2011 uprising that overthrew Hosni Mubarak. Many of this week's casualties died during protests in Port Said against a court verdict sentencing 21 mostly local football fans to death over a rampage following a football match in the coastal city last year.
The National Salvation Front is ordering its member parties to mobilize for Friday protests in Tahrir Square and other squares nationwide to denounce the killing of protesters.
Although Morsy said he gave up leadership positions within the groups when he took office, opposition activists accuse the Muslim Brotherhood and its Freedom and Justice Party of taking over the government and have likened them to Mubarak's now-dissolved National Democratic Party.
Union of Revolutionary Youth spokesperson Hamada al-Kashef said the Brotherhood represents a source of authority that has disregarded other political forces.
"What is being circulated by the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamists about thugs, not protesters, demonstrating in the streets is a lie," Kashef said, referring to familiar accusations that protesters are actually paid criminals.
National Association for Change leader Taqadom al-Kahtieb said Morsy's administration lost legitimacy when blood was shed under his watch. Political forces plan to stage marches in the capital and in other governorates in solidarity with Ismailia, Port Said and Suez, where Morsy declared a 30-day state of emergency on Sunday.
Founder of the unofficial April 6 Party, Tareq al-Khouly, said the group would gather outside the Brotherhood's Manial headquarters to call for early elections and the prosecution of Morsy over recent protester deaths.
The Second Revolution of Anger Facebook page is also advising protesters to meet in various locations in Cairo and march to Tahrir and the presidential palace in Heliopolis. The people will not be ruled by a single movement that works for its own interests, a statement posted on the page read.
The designated meeting points in Cairo will be outside Rabaa al-Adaweya Mosque in Nasr City, Nour Mosque in Abbasseya, al-Fateh Mosque in Ramses, and in the districts of Hadayeq al-Qubba, al-Alf Maskan, Ain Shams, and Gesr al-Suez, according to the page.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
