Egypt’s Al Wasat Party endorses Aboul-Fotouh for President

Egypt’s Al Wasat Party, a group founded by a former Muslim Brotherhood official, said it will back Islamist candidate Abdel Moneim Abou Al Fotouh for president.

Abou Al Fotouh, himself a former Brotherhood official, received 63 percent of the party’s vote, followed by another Islamist candidate, Mohamed Selim El-Awwa, Al Wasat said in a statement on its website. The Salafi Nour party, which has the second-most seats in parliament after the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, also backed Abou Al Fotouh.

The Freedom and Justice Party has nominated its leader, Mohamed Mursi, to run in next month’s election, according to Bloomberg.