Presidency Race: Brotherhood to stay out

The Muslim Brotherhood will not field a candidate for the Egyptian presidency.

CAIRO: The Muslim Brotherhood, the big winners of Egypt’s parliamentary vote, will not field a candidate for the Egyptian presidency, its leader Mohammed Badie said on Thursday. “The Muslim Brotherhood will not support (former member) Abdel-Moneim Abul-Fotouh or any candidate who has an Islamic reference in the presidential elections,” he said, quoted by Egypt’s news agency MENA. He said the movement would “reach an agreement with all national powers on the qualifications of the upcoming president,” stressing that “the demands of the Egyptian nation are on the top of the Muslim Brotherood’s priorities.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 27^th, 2012.