Morsi offers ministerial posts to ousted presidential contenders if he is elected

Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate says Abdel-Moneim Abolfotoh and Hamdeen Sabahi could serve as his deputies

By Michal Shmulovich 27 May 2012, 5:04 pm

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Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate Mohammed Morsi casts his vote at a polling station in Zakazik, 80 Kilometers (50 miles) north of Cairo on Wednesday. (photo credit: Ahmed Gomaa/AP)

The Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohammed Morsi offered two ousted presidential contenders, Abdel-Moneim Abolfotoh and Hamdeen Sabahi, ministerial spots in the Egyptian government if he is elected president in the runoff elections. Morsi proposed the idea during an interview with Egyptian state TV Sunday.

Morsi said the candidates would serve as his deputies without being representatives of his political party.

Abolfotoh and Sabahi were the third and fourth-place runners-up in the first round of presidential elections.

Abolfotoh had said Saturday that he would throw his support behind the Brotherhood’s candidate in order to “eradicate” the former Hosni Mubarak regime from power. He was referring to Ahmed Shafiq, a former prime minister and air force commander under Mubarak who is facing Morsi in next month’s run-off for the presidency.

Abolfotoh said he would hold talks with all the national movements to “unite their efforts against the regime… to complete the goals of the revolution,” Ma’ariv reported Saturday.

The first round of race turned out close. By Friday evening, Egypt’s state news agency reported tallies from polling stations around the country which gave Morsi 25.3 percent and Shafiq 24.9 percent, with less than 100,000 votes separating the two.