ID :
180864
Mon, 05/09/2011 - 13:08
Auther :

Muslim Brotherhood Will Have No Candidate in Egypt's Presidential Election

TEHRAN, May 9 (FNA)- A senior member of the Egyptian Al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun (Muslim Brotherhood) party announced on Monday that the group will not introduce a candidate for the late November presidential elections in the country.
"The party has announced that it will not nominate a member for the presidential elections," former Muslim Brotherhood Secretary-General Mahdi Akef told FNA.

He further noted Abdolmona'm Abolfotouh's nomination for the next presidential elections, and underlined that although Abolfotouh is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, he would not represent the party in the upcoming elections.

"This does not mean that we stand against Abolfotouh, rather we wish him success," Akef reiterated.

Meantime, the Muslim Brotherhood had announced earlier that it will increase the number of seats for which it plans to field candidates in this fall's parliamentary elections, in a sign of the increasing confidence of Egypt's Islamists against a thin field of political competitors.

The Freedom and Justice Party, the Brotherhood's new political party, will field candidates in about 45 to 50% of voting districts in elections scheduled for September. Brotherhood leaders previously said they were hoping to contest about a third of the seats.

The decision to field more candidates may be a sign of the organization's increasing confidence in the Egyptian public's appetite for political Islam following generations of largely secular, one-party rule.



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