Mohamed al-Katatni, former chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB)’s parliamentary bloc (2005-2010), has been selected to head up the MB’s new "Freedom and Justice Party," MB General Guide Mohamed Badie said in a brief statement published on the group’s official website on Wednesday.
Al-Katatni, a member of the MB’s authoritative Guidance Bureau, has also been mandated by the group with handling all legal and administrative procedures associated with establishing the new party, the statement noted.
The party is not intended to replace the MB movement, said leading group member and Shura Council representative Gamal Heshmat on Tuesday. Heshmat pointed out that the group had numerous cadres in Egypt's various governorates who would soon be appointed to leading posts within the new party.
According to Badie, membership in Freedom and Justice will be open to all Egyptians who accept the party’s electoral program and policy direction.
The MB drafted a political program three years ago, but had refused to present it to the regime-controlled Political Parties Committee, which at the time had been chaired by dismissed Secretary-General of the ruling National Democratic Party Safwat al-Sharif.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
