The Muslim Brotherhood group has renewed its commitment to running in the presidential election, and rejected a proposal by the Salafi-led Nour Party to agree on one Islamist candidate and support him for the presidency.
“We will either support Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh, Mohamed Morsy or Selim al-Awa,” said Mohamed Nour, spokesman for the Al-Nour Party. “And we need to agree on one of them with the Brotherhood so that we do not split our votes.”
“The Brotherhood must withdraw its candidate if we choose someone else,” he added.
“We will not withdraw Morsy,” said Karem Radwan, a member of the group’s Shura Council, while Ahmed Abu Baraka of the Freedom and Justice Party did not accept fielding just one Islamist candidate.
Meanwhile in a conference at Mansoura University on Sunday, Morsy said the Brotherhood’s platform is renaissance and its motto ‘Islam is the Solution’, while Khairat al-Shater, the candidate who was excluded from the race, said: “God tasked us with building the nation.”
Morsy and Shater were well received by the people of Mansoura, who stood on the sidewalks and held banners welcoming them, but hundreds of students of the Mansoura University protested during the conference and shouted slogans against them.
This article is an edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
