MB Egyptian Candidate Accepts National Convent, But No Written Guarantees

The Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate for the Egyptian presidential runoff, Mohammed Morsi, has accepted the Charter of National Convent, a declaration drafted by representatives of Egypt’s liberal political forces to ensure broad national representation in any future government, local media reported on Friday, quoting Morsi’e election campaign staff.

The candidate has refused, however, to provide written guarantees that he would stick to its provisions if elected president, reports said.

Morsi “agrees with most of the points included in the Charter, but is not going to provide any guarantees that he will obey this proclamation by certain political forces,” Yasser Ali, the head of Morsi’s election campaign staff, was quoted as saying.

Morsi and Ahmed Shafiq, who was the last prime minister under President Hosni Mubarak, won most of the votes in the first round of Egypt’s presidential elections on May 23-24 and will face each other in the June 16-17 runoff.

Several dozen Egyptian political organizations have called on both candidates to sign the Charter, which outlines the minimum set of conditions that they have to agree to before winning their endorsement.

Those included the appointment of two vice presidents who would have “real influence,” the creation of a coalition government to represent the interests of all Egyptian political forces, as well an advisory presidential council and a constituent assembly tasked with drafting a new constitution which would involve representatives of “all layers of Egypt’s society,” including those of national and religious minorities.

As the Charter also states that the new president should not be member of any party, its authors have called on Morsi to cancel his membership in the Muslim Brotherhood. Morsi’s open endorsements of Islam have created fear among liberal Egyptians that the country may turn into a fundamentalist theocracy under his rule.

But many Egyptians have also been reluctant to back Shafiq, fearing that he may try to restore the Mubarak regime.