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Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood names deputy chairman as presidential candidate

01 April 2012 03:28 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood (MB) announced on Saturday that it had nominated deputy chairman Khairat al-Shater to be the presidential candidate, reversing its previous position of not running for presidency, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

At a press conference held at the MB guidance bureau in the capital Cairo, MB general guide Mohamed Badei said that Shater had resigned from his post to run for president.

The decision came after a vote held among MB members during their Shura Council meeting during which Shater won 56 out of 108 votes.

"Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) parliamentary authority nominates Shater for presidency," the party said on its official Facebook page.

"I would never look for any post, but I cannot refuse the group ’s decision," Shater wrote down in his resignation paper read out by Badei.

MB Secretary General Mahmoud Hussein said the group decided to nominate one of its members for presidency, as there are obstacles against forming a new government representing all people, threats of dissolving the parliament, nomination of several remnants of the former regime for presidential elections and hindrance to Constituent Assembly formation.

The MB had previously insisted on not running for presidency after the fall of former President Hosni Mubarak in February last year. The FJP won the most seats in both upper and lower houses of the new parliament earlier this year.