The Muslim Brotherhood's candidate for president, Mohamed Morsy, has pledged to form a coalition government that would include the parliamentary majority as well as other political parties if he becomes president. Morsy, who is expected to contest the run-off vote for presidency next month against former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq, said the new prime minister would not necessarily be from the Muslim Brotherhood. In an interview Saturday with the privately owned Al-Nahar satellite channel, Morsy said negotiations are currently taking place over appointing more than one vice president, each enjoying presidential powers and accountable to the president. He refused to give names until the negotiations conclude. Regarding the meeting the Brotherhood held yesterday with other political players to discuss confronting Shafiq during the run-off, Morsy said politicians and party chiefs who attended agreed to face the Mubarak regime and its followers. If elected, Morsy said he would be a president for all Egyptians rather than a president belonging to the Freedom and Justice Party, the Brotherhood's political arm. He said other presidential hopefuls, such as Nasserist candidate Hamdeen Sabbahi and moderate Islamist Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh, were invited to the meeting but did not attend. “We are in contact with all forces in order to face the former regime followers,” he said. He admitted that the Brotherhood had made mistakes during the transition period and said it would review its positions. “We started communication yesterday with political forces,” Morsy said, adding that the Brotherhood's promises can be guaranteed by all national forces' real participation, including that of the other presidential candidates. The Constitutional Declaration grants the new president the authority to form a government, he added, saying that the new one should be a coalition government. “I would vow to the people and the martyrs' families to reinvestigate the cases of the revolution's martyrs when I become a president,” Morsy said, adding that perpetrators would stand trial to achieve justice. Regarding the Constituent Assembly, Morsy said the FJP and other parties represented in Parliament worked on issuing a draft law about forming the assembly as soon as possible. He said everyone should be satisfied with the formation of the assembly, which might be elected before the run-off election.
