The Muslim Brotherhood have announced that Mohamed Morsy will be the president of their newly formed Freedom and Justice party. Morsi, who belongs to the reformest group of the movement, is an ex-parliamentarian and professor at the University of Zagazig's Faculty of engineering. He is known to have good relations with Egypt's media and various opposition forces. He was the head of the brotherhood's parliamentary bloc between 2000-2005, and ran for another parliamentary term in 2005 but lost as a result of vote rigging, according to the brotherhood. The group also confirmed previous declarations that they do not plan to field a presidential candidate in the upcoming elections. Mosry is the group's official spokesperson and a member of their guidance bureau. They also announced that Essam El Erian, also a spokesperson for the group and one of the most familiar faces of the brotherhood will be the deputy of the party and Saad El-Katatny will hold the position of general-secretary of the party. The group also announced that they will run for 45% to 50% of the parliament in the next elections set for September. The announcements came at a press conference at noon today which ended the MB's two day Shura Council meeting. This is the group's first Shura council meeting in 16 years and discussed several topics including the brotherhood's participating in the elections and electing a leader for their party.
