Monday, April 9, 2012
A supporter of Omar Suleiman holds a poster Friday in Cairo that reads: “Run, run, don’t leave us to the Muslim Brotherhood.”
Cairo, Egypt (CNN) — A Muslim Brotherhood candidate for next month’s presidential elections here lashed out Monday at the 11th-hour entrance into the race by Omar Suleiman, the former spy chief to deposed strongman Hosni Mubarak.
“We are not against the
concept of anyone running as long as he has the right legal status, but
it’s unacceptable to have one of the symbols of Mubarak’s regime run for
president,” Khairat el-Shater told CNN. “The majority of Egyptians will
not accept him. His candidacy is an insult to the revolution.”
The only way Suleiman
could win would be by forgery, el-Shater said. “If there is a 1% chance
of forgery in the elections, and he wins that way, then all the
Egyptians — not just the Muslim Brotherhood — will take to the streets.”
Elections are scheduled to start May 23.
El-Shater said the
brotherhood’s political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party, would
respect “all signed treaties,” including the 1978 Camp David Accords
with Israel. “Regardless of any opinion toward these treaties, they were
accepted by decent entities in the country, and it does not mean that
changing the political system will affect the treaties.”
But he noted that the
accords included a component “about respecting the rights of
Palestinians. The Egyptians respected their part of the deal but the
Israelis — until now — have not respected the Palestinian rights. The
Egyptians complied, but the Israelis did not.”
El-Shater said the timing
of a loan from the International Monetary Fund to the Egyptian
government could prove problematic. “The timing is the problem because
we don’t think this interim government is performing well, so we object
that they take this loan and spend it in two months, then the new
government worries about paying it back.”
Whatever happens in the
election, the top priority for the Muslim Brotherhood and the Freedom
and Justice Party is to ease sectarian tensions, which built under
Mubarak’s regime, he said. “Mubarak’s former regime really oppressed the
Coptics and the Muslims because his system was based on tyranny. We aim
to rebuild our nation again.”
Suleiman entered the race just hours before the Sunday deadline, said Hatem Bjato, who heads the election committee.
Suleiman had initially
said he would not seek the presidency in the first election for the post
since the revolution that led to the toppling of Mubarak. But on
Friday, Suleiman did an about-face, saying he felt obliged to
supporters.
“I promise you, my
brothers and sisters, to complete the goals of the revolution and
provide security and stability to the Egyptian people,” he said in a
written statement Friday.
The status of another candidate was less certain.
A court ruled that
liberal opposition leader Ayman Nour will not be allowed to compete
because he was jailed in recent years, the candidate’s son said
Saturday. Nour was recently pardoned and plans to appeal, the son said.
That decision could affect the future of al-Shater, since he too was pardoned for his past convictions.
A millionaire
businessman who served two prison terms under Mubarak, al-Shater is
considered a conservative, though he is also credited as being the
driving force behind the Brotherhood’s affirmation that Egypt should
continue to honor its international agreements.
Fearful for the future
of its candidates, the Muslim Brotherhood nominated Saturday an
alternative, Mohammed Morsi, chief of the Freedom and Justice Party. “We
are protecting the revolution and all of its goals. … We have decided
as the Brotherhood and its party to nominate Mohammed Morsi as our
backup candidate for president,” it said in a statement.
The group had pledged
repeatedly that it would not field a presidential candidate. But
candidates from its political arm won the largest share of seats in
Egypt’s parliamentary elections in December. And Brotherhood leader
Mohamed Badie has said the new Egypt “is under a serious threat” because
its current military-led government “has failed to represent the will
of the people.”
A military junta took power after Mubarak’s ouster.
Salafist candidate Hazem
Abu Ismael was also disqualified from running in the election because
of his mother’s U.S. citizenship, state television reported Saturday.
The deceased mother of
Abu Ismael held U.S. citizenship and used her U.S. passport to enter
Egypt three times, Egypt’s Interior Ministry has said.
Ismael had said that his
mother held a green card residency permit but was not a U.S. citizen.
He told a private Egyptian TV program that his sister was married to an
American and had obtained U.S. citizenship, but that his mother had not.
More than 450 people registered or announced plans to seek the presidency.
CNN’s Ian Lee and journalist Mohamed Fadel Fahmy contributed to this report.
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