The Muslim Brotherhood and Salafis are 90 percent sure they will support Hossam al-Gheriany, head of the Supreme Council for the Judiciary, for president, Freedom and Justice Party leader Hassan al-Beshbeeshy has said.
Gheriany meets all the conditions set by the Brotherhood, Beshbeeshy told Al-Masry Al-Youm.
He said the Brotherhood and Salafis have agreed on Gheriany as a consensus candidate and that Gheriany is about to announce his acceptance.
The Brotherhood has been communicating with Gheriany to convince him to run, Beshbeeshy said.
“The Brotherhood is in talks with its leaders and youth over Gheriany’s nomination, being a figure who is agreed on,” Beshbeeshy said.
FJP sources told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the party has met with several potential candidates to discuss their electoral platforms.
On Friday, Wafd Party chief Al-Sayed al-Badawy said during a meeting with young Wafd members that he suggested the Brotherhood endorse Mansour Hassan, a Sadat-era minister and head of the military's Advisory Council, but FJP chief Mohamed Morsy rejected the suggestion, saying the party would endorse an Islamist candidate.
However, privately owned Al-Shorouk newspaper quoted an FJP source as saying that most of the polls conducted by the group on its members showed sympathy with former member Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh, who had left the group after it refused to nominate a candidate.
It said the group preferred not to nominate any candidate to avoid conflicts between the leadership and members. The group — which has paid attention to preserving unity among its members for more than 80 years — fears disputes that could take place if it endorses a candidate who members reject, the source said.
The group has so far been silent on declaring which candidate it will endorse for the first post-revolution presidential election, which will take place on 23-24 May.
