That a large number of Salafis have come out in favour of expelled Muslim Brother Abdel-Moneim Abul-Fotouh surprised many, reports Amani Maged Most observers had predicted that the Salafis would plump for the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate, Mohamed Mursi, a conservative hardliner perceived to be close to the Salafis' way of thinking, as their preferred presidential candidate. In the end the Sharia Organisation for Rights and Reform was the only Salafist group that opted for Mursi. The rest chose Abdel-Moneim Abul-Fotouh. The surprise choice was prompted by several considerations. Abdel-Moneim El-Shahat, spokesman for the Salafist Calling, explains that Abul-Fotouh enjoys widespread popularity while the Mursi candidacy is suffering major marketing problems. More importantly, a large segment of the public, including many Salafis, shies away from the prospect of the Brotherhood monopolising all branches of government. Salafist Calling and the Nour Party, says El-Shahat, felt the Islamist media would be unable to promote a strong enough image of Mursi. Their choice of Abul-Fotouh is also informed by a belief that Mursi will be asked to form a new government shortly before the elections, an opportunity the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) is unlikely to pass up. By backing Abul-Fotouh, the Salafist Calling and Nour Party believe the Islamist movement has a good chance of securing at least one candidate in the runoffs. Yet another consideration that determined the Salafist organisations' decision to back Abul-Fotouh was that the non-Islamists have two strong candidates in Amr Moussa and Ahmed Shafik. While neither looks likely to win in the first round, they stand a chance of making it into the second. El-Shahat argues that if the Salafis backed Mursi, a second round would be a near certainty, whereas there is a chance Abul-Fotouh could secure a first round victory. "He has considerable support among university students and among most classes of the Egyptian people," says El-Shahat. Backing Abul-Fotouh also has the advantage, argues El-Shahat, of refuting the false impression that the FJP and Nour Party are "cooking up everything together behind closed doors and the people will have no choice but to swallow what they produce". Fielding two strong candidates will enhance the credibility of the Islamist trend among the public, he says. The Salafist spokesman seems right about one thing. Despite the Muslim Brotherhood's backing and an intensive media drive, the Mursi campaign is stalling. The backup candidate who replaced the Muslim Brotherhood's deputy supreme guide Khairat El-Shater when he was disqualified from the presidential race, has yet to make any significant inroads with the public. Analysts also believe that a large segment of the electorate fear a Muslim Brotherhood monopoly on power and the prospect of another dictatorship. Many among the public would agree with El-Shahat that it is best to obviate this from the outset through a form of power-sharing that would bring together diverse and complementary skills. "A bird with a sound head and two sturdy wings is to be preferred over a bird with a huge head, neck and one big wing of one substance and another feeble wing of another, because such a bird cannot fly," he said. But the Salafist decision was not governed only by the political calculations of power sharing. Yasser Burhami, vice-president of the Salafist Calling, insists Abul-Fotouh's electoral platform is more acceptable to most Salafis. "He places greater emphasis on political reform, creating an executive branch that is less contingent on the person of the president and more institutionalised in nature, opening the horizons for civil society organisations and, above all, Islamic associations, so that they can better perform their role in society. [El-Shater's] nahda [renaissance] programme focuses on the economy. Since it is likely that the architects of the constitution will opt for a mixed parliamentary/presidential system and since the FJP will form the next government, if not now then after the presidential elections, supporting Abul-Fotouh will lead to the integration of both his political reform programme and the Brotherhood's nahda economic programme." Asked about methodological differences between the Salafist Calling and Abul-Fotouh, El-Shahat responded: "We would like to stress that the three Islamist candidates belong to a single ideological school. Mohamed Selim El-Awwa is one of the theoreticians of this school, while Abul-Fotouh and other Muslim Brotherhood leaders have contributed to the Muslim Brotherhood's adoption of this discourse over the years."
